


Beautiful Eyes

by GingerEnvy



Category: Captain America (Movies), Iron Man (Movies), The Avengers (Marvel Movies), The Avengers (Marvel) - All Media Types
Genre: Angst, Angst with a Happy Ending, Blindfolds, Blindness, Character Death, Implications of torture, Isolation, M/M, Really Nonsensical Angelology, Restraints, Wingfic, WinterHawk Big Bang, winterhawk - Freeform
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-08-31
Updated: 2016-08-31
Packaged: 2018-08-12 06:54:50
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 36,187
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/7924909
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/GingerEnvy/pseuds/GingerEnvy
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>What if your purpose on earth...was to discover your purpose? Clint and the others find out after many trials and much trouble what their purpose is, who they are and what they must sacrifice, but in the end, it's all worth it.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Beautiful Eyes

**Author's Note:**

> This is an expansion of my 2015 WinterHawk Week piece "Fiction".

_ His eyes were the universe. _

 

The world was a big bright and beautiful place, when he arrived it was twilight, the world darkening for the night, but gold and red in the distance as the sun set for the day. The light at the cusp of the tree line and bright through the branches. Illuminating the green foliage that he appeared in. He was in some woods, he knew that somehow, he didn’t know where or how but he was, further in he could see lights moving and blinking, artificial but happy, he could hear people laughing and music playing and he could almost see the joy in the air.

 

There were crickets chirping around him, the smell of popcorn and cotton candy, and deep fried foods assaulted his nose, but it all smelled wonderful, so new and interesting. (Was it new? How did he know?)

The air was a bit muggy, a summer storm was on the way, but for now the night was still young and the ferris wheel seen above the tree line was spinning slowly, the other rides moving and the people laughing, not worried. 

He took a step, amazed at the possibility to do so. He was walking, he could feel it, everything pressing into his heels. Grass and dirt, a twig pressing into the arch of his foot, it felt so real and amazing. He was utterly bewildered by it all.

He kept walking because now that he’d started he didn’t want to stop. He moved forward until he made it past the line of the border of the carnival past the large trucks and one of the rides until he was in an open area, he stopped, watching the people walk by, the sounds, the smells, everything it was just so much to take in.

“Hey...kid...you okay?” Someone asked and he turned to blink, one of the carnival workers was there asking him questions. 

He didn’t reply, he just stared, and the worker looked uncomfortable.

“Did...you need some help, kid?” he asked and he wasn’t sure, did he need help? Maybe, but that wasn’t really what was what he needed.

And in that moment he realized he was naked, and didn’t know how or why he’d gotten there, he promptly burst into tears.

And yet, they were of relief. All encompassing utter relief.

The poor worker started flailing about unsure of what to do with a kid who was naked and crying, but he managed to corral him to one of the trucks and find him a blanket. Then get one of the trapeze girls to help him out so he could go back to his popcorn booth.

“Hey, sweetie, do you know where your parents are?” she asked and he shook his head, she asked him many questions and he didn’t know the answer to any of them, except one.

“Clint Barton.”

The girl looked surprised by the answer, but smiled, at least he knew his name, he knew nothing save for that, she ruffled his hair.

“Nice to meet you Clint,” she said, already fond of him.

 

And that was how he joined the circus.

 

The other carnies love telling the story of his arrival, he was nine (at least they’d assumed as much, since he didn’t know, but according to the psychic that’s how old he was), naked and afraid, but knew nothing, except his name.

It was a name no one had heard before, no one had heard of him or anyone he may be related to. No one had come looking for him, so thinking he was lost by a family was not the case, and he wasn’t a run away as he wasn’t in any systems (they had checked), there were no questions, no one knew him and no one had a clue why he’d been naked, no one would know. But in the end, it didn’t matter.

The trapeze girls had grown utterly fond of him and taken him in, and he’d just been with them ever since, he had no reason to leave, not when everyone was kind to him, he was fed and clothed and had a place to sleep.

They all knew he must be special though, because no one had ever seen eyes like his, the nakedness had distracted at first but once they were taken note of they were impossible to ignore. They were gorgeous, something beyond beauty even. It was like every color all kaleidoscoping together to make something more beautiful than ever thought of, a sparkle no other eye could hold, and a keenness that no child should have. But also innocence that shone through that made him very hard not to care for.

He was helpful to anyone who asked, he was kind and sweet and just seemed to enjoy helping everyone, for a while he was just their little orphan boy, everyone more or less helped to raise him, and he helped everyone else with anything he could.

But as it turned out, one day while he was fooling around with some of the others, he discovered he was skilled; in both knife throwing and archery. He only needed one knife and one arrow to hit the bullseye, after absolutely no experience or instruction, they had no idea how, and nor did he, but soon enough he had his own act.

He was incredible, he never missed! He could shoot an arrow all the way across the circus tent, blindfolded and still hit the bullseye! He could throw knives while hanging upside down from the trapeze and more! He garnered a lot of attention and business. It was good all around.

He was with them for years and years, learning as much as he could from books and people, he really enjoyed learning and taking everything in, watching the people who came to the shows and just life as it was. To see how people acted, and how they differed, he liked to people watch, while in the circus and the cities they visited.

He had some strange habits, but it was to be expected considering his origin and upbringing, he liked to be up high, when there were no shows he would climb up to the very top of the tent, and just stay there happy as can be for hours. He liked swinging a lot, because he said he liked how it felt, he also had a habit of staring at people with far too much concentration. 

He would watch people from shadows, a lot of time no one noticed because he just seemed to be good at watching from afar, but sometimes his gaze was so intense people could just tell they were being watched.

No one really thought anything about it as humans were sometimes keen on things like that, it wasn’t a big deal, not until one day, Clint witnessed a man abusing his child, and while he was too wary to confront him directly, he’d said, when asked, he’d wished him harm so hard while watching, that he had fallen over and had a heart attack. 

Clint had been convinced it was because of him, but the others tried to reassure him it hadn’t been, it was just a coincidence, luckily the man hadn’t died so the children weren’t left fatherless, but hopefully he’d learned a lesson.

After that Clint was very careful with his gaze, he knew somehow that it was special and he should be careful, so he was. 

He stayed with his circus family and was happy and content. What more could there be in the world?

Regardless of the answer; he however would never discover it. 

Ten years after he came to the circus, at the age of nineteen, they came for him.

Men in white, with superior attitudes and needles.

He didn’t want to go, he tried to fight, but he was no match for them and he was caught before hitting the ground, watching as the popcorn man came running towards them shouting, but after that, he knew no more.

 

Clint awoke some time later, he had no idea how long, at least, he thought he’d woken, but everything was black. 

It took him a long time before he realized something was over his face. Something was wrapped over his eyes tightly, keeping all light out. He moved his hand to take it away, except he couldn’t move his hand, it was tied down, he tried wiggling his whole body but there were bindings around his wrists and waist and legs. He couldn’t move. And if he couldn’t move to take off the cloth around his eyes, that meant...   
He couldn’t see.   
He couldn’t  _ see. _

In all the time he could remember being here alive, he had never not been able to see. And that, was just not something he could comprehend. He could almost feel his heartbreak at the idea of not being able to see the sky, or trees and flowers, or the smiles on people’s faces. It hurt, it hurt so much.

He couldn’t have it, he jerked against the restraints and screamed in rage, he screamed and screamed, tears of anguish and rage soaking the cloth over his eyes. 

He screamed until he was hoarse and couldn’t scream anymore, when he was screaming but no sound came out and all he could do was hurt.

But the silence finally allowed him to take note of some of his surroundings, and that was when he heard it. 

A voice talking to him, soothing and gentle, soft and yet rough, calming and warm, but full of sadness, why was the voice so sad?

He had to take a long moment to fully calm down, he was distressed, not being able to see was like not being able to breath. His heart still hurt so much too, he couldn’t stop crying either.

“Hey, it’s okay, take a deep breath, yeah just keep listening to me,” the voice said and Clint was able to recognize the echoey quality that meant the voice was possibly in another room, but he turned his head in what he hoped was the right direction, so they knew he was listening.

“Yeah, hey, that’s right,” the voice said, okay, so they could see him, “Take a deep breath, yeah just like that, you’re going to be fine,” the voice said, and it was reassuring, really to hear it even if he didn’t know if it was true.

“Alright, yeah just keep breathing, if you calm down, and make it to where you don’t try to take the blindfold off, they’ll let you go,” the voice said and Clint opened his mouth to ask what that was supposed to mean.

But his voice was torn to shreds.

“Yeah, don’t talk yet, you’ll just hurt yourself, kid, you tore your l… la...lyr...Jesus,” another voice said sounding frustrated, and from a different direction than the first place.

“I’m pretty sure that’s Blasphemy,” another voice said, though they sounded amused.

“Oh shut up,” the second voice grunted, but it was without heat. 

“Ignore the idiots across the hall,” the first voice said and Clint could almost hear an eyeroll in there.

“Hey!” both voices said, and Clint couldn’t help but grin a little even through his tears. It was nice to suddenly have something silly and funny after all the hurt he was feeling.

“Yeaaaah,” the first voice said sounding pleased, “I knew I liked you, blondie, you’ve got a good sense of humor.”

The praise felt nice, but he still wanted to know what was going on, and he wiggled a bit, trying to convey that.

“Oh yeah…” the voice took a deep breath, “Well...it looks like you’re one of us, and were found by the wrong people. Sorry.” And it sounded like he truly meant it.

Except Clint had absolutely no idea what to do with that information. It made no sense to him. 

“And don’t feel embarrassed or upset by the fact that we saw you, okay? Trust me, it’s nothing we all haven’t experienced ourselves,” despite those reassuring words, he went pink anyway, because really, they had been able to see and hear all of that couldn’t they? He took a moment to note he was at least no longer crying either, that was good. 

“I think this one’s was worse,” the second voice said and he must have been gesturing.

“And how would you know? You weren’t even here yet?” the third voice asked, and the tones of them both made Clint think these kind of arguments happened a lot.

“Just a feeling,” the second voice replied.

The first voice sighed, “Anyway...introductions, I’m James...or Adriel, but...James mostly now,” he sighed and it sounded sad, “The first idiot,” there was another protest from the second voice, “Is Tony, or Gabriel, and then there’s Steve, or Michael,” he said and Clint could remember that, probably, maybe? Why did they all have two names?

“And then there’s also Natalia, or Raziel but she’s not here right now, she’ll be back, she’s the only female here, and then Bruce, or Azazael, “ he paused.

“Hello,” another voice said, different from the other three, soft and a bit wane, strained almost, “I wish we could have met under different circumstances,” he finished.

“Don’t we all?” Tony/Gabriel, Clint was pretty sure, grumbled.

“And then there’s Ramiel,” James/Adriel let out a soft sigh, “He’s...well we can’t see him, and there was an...incident so he was knocked out, we think...hopefully he’ll be okay,” he sounded worried, and Clint could understand why.

He made a few assumptions here, they were all trapped together, and for the same reason, and had bonded over that, and so were concerned for each other. That was really all they could do wasn’t it?

It made sense, and he hoped Ramiel (only one name?) was okay too.

He still had absolutely no idea what was going on, but the people here, they had already seemed to welcome him amongst them, and that was a comfort he would accept. Especially as he’d lost everything else.

It was all he had.

 

James watched the poor boy on the cot, he was young, youngest of them all he was pretty sure, though the niggling in the back of his mind told him that wasn’t entirely true, even if it was. Alright then. That meant many things, surely.

But right then, James truly wished he could help him, he wished he could touch him, to give him solid comfort, something he likely desperately needed.

He couldn’t talk or see, something James felt really was unfair, but he’d tried to talk to him for awhile, to help him relax as best as he could allowed by the circumstances. 

Eventually he fell asleep, which was understandable after how long he’d been distressed it had been hours, he’d lost count.

Once he was sleeping James stood from his seat on his bed and moved over to the glass wall separating them, and looked at him more closely, he was young, definitely the youngest of all of them, and really wasn’t that just awful? And who knew how long he’d even been around. 

He sighed and looked over at the others, Tony was sitting on his own bed back against the wall, frowning, which he did a lot, it was hard when you couldn’t think to your full capacity, he looked over at Steve and let out a soft breath, he he was laying on his own, hands behind his head, probably counting the inches in the ceiling again. Bruce was sitting on the floor, legs criss crossed and arms resting loosely on his knees, his eyes closed, he was likely meditating.

His eyes moved to the blacked out box that was Ramiel’s cell, he really hoped the other man was okay, he’d gotten angry when the new guy came in (they’d discovered long ago that he could see them, but they couldn’t him), saying something about ‘too soon’, it made very little sense, and there had been a lot of struggling and the the zap of electricity, and- James let out a breath, Ramiel said he wasn’t hurt by it, ever, he would be fine, but when they used so much he sometimes passed out. 

They still worried.

And then there was Natalia, she’d been gone for over a whole day, he was worried about her too, but it was normal. They took them individually all the time for ‘tests’ and ‘training’. 

None of them actually knew what they were there for as they were never given any answers, but James had been there the longest, and he knew that this was not what they were meant for, and this was like torture. 

They all had a purpose, and well most of them had been trying to discover it, or carry out what they thought it was when they were taken.

It was hard when there were no definites. 

None of them really knew, and honestly how could they when it felt like they’d been cut off from something big?

He wasn’t left to dwell however as the door opened and two guards, all in white, faces covered, came in dragging Nat between them, she was still awake, and looking disgruntled and frustrated, but fine.

They opened the door to her cell, it had to do with the suits, James knew, because they couldn’t see where the pad was and they pressed their hands to the glass and the door would open, they’d return them, and then they’d put their hand back and the glass would close and look flawless, like there was no door at all. 

It was some crazy magic shit. 

“Thanks for the escort, boys,” she drawled, from the ground, “And gentle care,” she added but of course there was no reply, the guards left, the outer door closed with a hiss and then it was just them again.

The redhead looked over at the new guy, “How is he?” she asked, not moving from her spot on the floor, she hated moving, and that was sad.

“Sleeping now,” James replied looking over at the blond young man, “Don’t know his name...he lost his voice.”

“Ah,” Natalia replied and let out a breath, “Well he must be important if his appearance got Ramiel all riled up.”

James nodded, that was true, he couldn’t remember Ramiel reacting like that with anyone else. The other man had been the second one here, after James, and been present for every subsequent person that followed. 

He’d been upset for most of them, but...he’d not reacted like this before. So it was quite possible he knew who the boy was?

Well he hoped one of them woke up soon so they could get some answers.

Naturally they would have a wait either way.

 

Clint woke again, he didn’t know how long later, again, but he was a little better, sort of. The no seeing thing was still awful, and he reflexively moved his hand to take it off, but he was still strapped down.

“Hey, you’re awake,” the first voice again, James/Adriel?, right, he really needed to ask about that.

“Wa-ach,” he coughed, okay so talking was still not a thing he could do, but he had his voice back, that was good, or getting there.

“Yeah, probably best not to talk yet,” James/Adriel said, “But it’s good it’s coming back.”

He bobbed his head in agreement.

“Well Natalia came back while you were out,” he said and Clint knew her at least, the only female of the group.

“Hello,” she said and wow, she had a nice voice, it was like silk covered in chocolate, “It’s nice to get some new blood here, the others have run a bit dry,” she said, but it sounded like she was joking. He was pretty sure she was joking.

“Says the dryest one of us all,” Tony/Gabriel replied and he heard someone else snort. Probably Steve/Michael.

“Mmmm, possibly,” she replied, amused.

“As you can tell we really have nothing better to do than rib each other, you’ll get used to it,” James/Adriel replied.

He nodded again, but slower, there were a few chuckles in response, well at least he’d fit in.

“Ramiel is still out, which is a shame, and hmmm, you can’t talk yet...which is a problem, we still don’t know your name.”

“Cl-,” he coughed, and sighed, boo. Not being able to talk really put a damper on communicating.

“Cl...well...that’s a start,” Tony/Gabriel said, and Clint was glad he could already tell the difference between three of their voices.

“Clayton?” Steve/Michael suggested, and Clint snorted, “I guess not,” he sounded amused.

“Oooh, name game, fun,” Tony/Gabriel said sounding excited.

“Clarence?” James/Adriel tried, Clint shook his head, yikes. This was going to be painful.

“Claire,” Tony/Gabriel said, and Clint would have shot him a look if he could, he shook his head hard, “Hey, if Ashley is a boys name, Claire can be too.”

Clint had no idea about that, but he shook his head again. 

“Alright, alright,” Tony/Gabriel chuckled, “Cl….um….Cl….Carl...no wait shit….uhg.”

“It’s alright, Tony,” Steve/Gabriel said softly, and Tony just huffed in irritation. Okay, something was up with that.

“Clark, maybe?” James/Adriel offered, maybe for both Clint and Tony. 

“Yeah, that’s what I meant,” Tony/Gabriel replied, a bit pacified but still a bit upset, Clint shook his head though.

“Claud?” 

Headshake.

“Cleveland?” 

Hard headshake, that got chuckles.

“Clement?”

Headshake and mouth making a face, more chuckles.

“Cliff?”

He shook his head but wiggled.

“Ah...closer,” Natalia/Raziel said, having been listening, then she hummed in thought, “...Clint perhaps?”

He nodded several times.

“Clint?” James/Adriel said sounding pleased, and that made Clint kind of happy too, “Clint, that’s a nice name, maybe we can guess your other name, hmmm?”

“Ha, that’ll be fun, how many can you remember?” Tony/Gabriel grumbled.

“A few,” James/Adriel said, but he didn’t sound all that confident.

Clint had no idea what they meant by that, he didn’t have another name, he shook his head, kind of hoping they’d stop babbling about it.

“What is it Clint?” Natalia/Raziel said, seeming to be the only one looking at him, the others stopped talking.

He shook his head.

“No?” James/Adriel prompted (this double name thing was really starting to be annoying, and to think he was supposed to have one too? Yikes.).

“Don’t-” he coughed, and was pretty frustrated, but they seemed to get it.

“You don’t know it?” Natalia asked, (he’d just go by the first one, yeah, made more sense to him.)

He shook his head.

“Oh…um…huh,” Tony said, and Clint could almost envision the confused face that would be there, if he knew what the other man looked like.

“Well...hopefully Ramiel will fill us in,” James replied, sounding like he was shrugging.

The whole not seeing thing really was a pain, he seemed to be able to still read people fairly good by tone of voice alone, which was something, at the very least.

“You think he knows?” Steve asked, curious.

“I think he has a better idea than any of us, if his reaction was any indication,” James replied.

“Fair enough, I guess...we just wait,” Tony replied.

“Guess so,” James said, seeming to move on until they could get the answers they wanted, but they still talked, they just chatted about whatever, the weather, even though they didn’t know what it was, but what they remembered, the rain and what it smelled like, the snow, and the silence it produced when it fell so slowly, the sun and the feel of the rays on their skin, it was all things Clint remembered very well, and not having that suddenly made him feel heart sick again.

He fell asleep to the sound of their voices and to the blindfold slowly dampening from tears.

 

James blinked awake several hours after they’d quieted down for the night, or a midday nap or who knew really. They had no sense of time down there, it was suffocating most days.

He perked up more when he heard a grunt, then looked over at the black block, “Ramiel?” he called, hopeful.

“Aye,” the deep voice replied, sounding drained, and tired, but overall, okay. James let out a low breath of air.

“Are you alright?” he asked and knew that was a question they all took with a grain of salt, because how can any of them really be okay? Trapped and held captive with no chance of escape, and with their most important piece of their souls locked away?

“I am as well as I can be, my friend,” Ramiel replied and James nodded.

“Can you see us again?” he asked, because sometimes he couldn’t. These damn cells were too high tech for his tastes.

“Aye,” he sighed, “To see him here, it...startled me, he is not meant- he was never meant to fall,” he said.

“You know who he is?” James asked eager, and he saw that the others were waking too, and were likely eager for an explanation to his reaction as well.

“Aye, he is Uriel, The Watcher. He is, potentially, one of the most dangerous of us all,” he said seriously.

James felt a small shiver along his spine and knew that Adriel recognized that name, and that what Ramiel said was true about this particular angel.  

“You sayin’ he’s got more bite than Brucie?” Tony asked, James looked over to the other man who gestured to the man still sitting on the floor who was looking to be mid meditation, but was likely listening.

“Nay,” Ramiel replied, “He is the most dangerous, not the most powerful, nor the most deadly, he is dangerous in the respect that he can see all.”

“Define ‘all’?” Steve asked, just a bit wary.

“ _ All, _ ” Ramiel repeated, “He is meant to watch everything and gain knowledge and then return that knowledge to Him. Uriel is His Eyes, he has more ability with those than any of us has in our own blessings. He was never meant to join us...and that he is here...it is very worrisome.”

“So...something big happened,” Steve said, frowning.

“I fear that is the case,” Ramiel replied sounding truly upset at that, and James understood. Everything about this was upsetting but knowing that there was something bigger at play and they could do nothing to help, well it was enough to drive anyone to depression.

“Okay but wait, how does that make him so dangerous?” Tony asked, trying not to feel frustrated again, had he missed something big here?

Ramiel took a moment, then his deep voice explained, “Uriel...has a very strong gaze,” he replied carefully, because he knew he could not share too much, for so many reasons.

“Oh, that explains everything,” Tony grumbled, but they all knew Ramiel couldn’t tell them everything. If it was easy, then would it really be worth it?

“I am more concerned that he did not seem to know Uriel,” Natalia said, “He did not know the name, and I am starting to think he is possibly not even aware of him.”

“What? Really? What makes you think that?” James asked, frowning.

“Just a feeling…” she said, but she frowned too, she didn’t think it was her own abilities, maybe just intuition, though his reaction, it just seemed to give that impression.

“I guess we have some explaining to do,” Steve said, “They better not get upset about it again, it’s not like we’re completely ignorant as to why we’re all here.”

“Mmm,” James hummed, he looked over at Clint who was still strapped down to the bed, and was still sleeping, he was probably still exhausted from the last several days.

But he did wake, a few minutes later, to the sound of Tony and Steve talking softly. They were an interesting pair, they got along well, at the same time they were worst enemies, and James had a feeling that if Gabriel and Michael were freed, it might be even more the case. 

Clint grunted when he woke up and James immediately looked over at him, “Hey,” he said and the blond man paused in his movements, then tilted his head in his direction.

“We’ve figured some stuff out while you were asleep, thanks to Ramiel,” he told him and the man let out a breath of air.

“How to get out?” he croaked, his voice was better, but still hurt, small blessings. The others laughed humorlessly, because wouldn’t that be nice?

“Not this time no, but we know who your Angel is,” he said and was somehow not surprised that didn’t warrant an enthusiastic response.

“....my...what?” he asked, sounding beyond confused.

“You really don’t know anything do you, kid?” Tony asked, sounding awed and amused all at the same time. James shot him a look.

“Oh I’m sorry, I didn’t realize I needed to know every damn thing in the world,” he snapped angrily, and then coughed when it was a bit too much for his vocal chords to take.

“Hey, whoa, hostile, I didn’t mean it like that,” Tony replied, holding his hands up in surrender.

“Then how did you mean it?” Steve asked, arching an eyebrow at the brunet man in the cell next to his, Tony just scowled at him.

“Aaaanyway,” James said, giving them both a look, they both promptly shut their mouths, “And that’s okay...now that you can talk, maybe you can fill us in a bit? Then we’ll explain everything we can,” he said reassuringly.

“Uh...okay…” Clint said frowning, “Um...I...I...uh…”

James smiled softly, “Why don’t you just start with when you appeared, okay?” he offered gently.

“Oh...um...I was a kid...I guess, I can’t remember it that well…” he shrugged, and well that was a bit odd, they could all remember when they’d gotten their second chances with stunning clarity. 

“Where were you?” Natalia asked, “Can you describe it?”

“It was a woods...there were trees everywhere,” he muttered, because describing what something looked like, he could do that, he had a good memory when it came to that, “It was right as the sun was going down...it was dark,” he took a moment to cough and take a breather. No one rushed him and just gave him a minute to gather up his thoughts, and let his throat rest.

“There were lights on the edge, and I moved towards them, and...and it was a circus, they took me in and I was with them ever since,” he shrugged. Clint really didn’t want to tell them about being naked and bursting into tears, it was for some reason now embarrassing, which was strange, he’d never really felt that way about it before. The circus folks hadn’t really cared, they’d teased him about it, but not too seriously, they weren’t really a modest bunch. 

It could have something to do with the fact that he couldn’t see currently, which made it hard for him to consider people imagining him naked.

“Do you know what year it was?” James asked randomly and Clint did and told him, only because he’d been told first, James made a noise of acknowledgement, but then was silent so Steve took over the conversation.

“A circus? Ha, that’s really something,” Steve said with a grin in his voice, “What was that like? Did you get to be on the trapeze?” he asked, sounding genuinely interested, that was also the only act he could remember.

“No, but I did know how,” he replied, “I had a show where I threw knives while hanging from one of them, at a moving target,” he said and that earned a few awed sounds.

“Really? That’s amazing,” James sounded a bit impressed and Clint felt pleased, “Did you just throw knives?”

“No, I also did things with bow and arrow, I...well...I put on a blindfold and shot at a target on the other side of the tent, sometimes someone would have an apple on their head, I never miss,” he said a bit of pride leaking into his voice. 

“Well, as far as back stories go, it’s not boring,” Tony mused.

“Gee, thanks,” Clint grumbled.

James rolled his eyes, “Ignore him, he’s just upset his IS boring in comparison,” James said, an edge of teasing in his tone.

“Hey!”

Clint smiled, “I guess, what’s his then?”

“We’ll tell you in a minute, we just wanted to know if you ever noticed something...odd about yourself?” James asked delicately.

“Aside from showing up in the woods randomly, you mean?” Clint drawled, and James chuckled, “Well...um...people always told me I had pretty eyes?”

James looked at the block of black where Ramiel was hidden, because surely, that meant something, right?

“Then I believe it is true, you Uriel Daeva,” Ramiel said after a pause. Clint jerked in his restraints, surprised, as he hadn’t heard Ramiel speak before, and the man had a very deep voice that could boom sometimes if he wasn’t trying to speak quietly.

“Oh, sorry, Clint, that’s Ramiel,” James said, “And...well I think he would know, he seems to know the most of all of us about this.”

“Aye, I apologize for surprising you. You hold Uriel, The Watcher within you,” Ramiel said and Clint kind of hung there in the silence that seemed heavy, like the words were important.

“I don’t know what that means,” he said after a moment, and James frowned, this was harder than he’d expected.

“Have you never spoken to him?” he asked and Clint shook his head slowly, “Oh...um…”

The others looked just as confused, they had all known their Angels decently well until they’d been locked away, to an extent, they could feel them, they just couldn’t communicate with their hosts as well as they had before. They used to have full conversations, for hours, but now, it was a twinge here, and a little niggle there, nothing conclusive.

“Let’s do a run down, yeah? Before we confuse the shit out of him more,” Tony said, “Cause honestly, I feel confused on his behalf.”

“That’s a good idea,” Steve agreed, “Then we can get into our own ‘background stories’.”

“Right,” James agreed, “Maybe you can take this one Ramiel?”

“I will do my best,” the other man said. “You my friend are a Daeva, a human vessel that holds the essence of an Angel, and an Angel is exactly what you think, a being from above, one who works for what most call ‘God’, or ‘The Father’,” Ramiel said calmly, and Clint thought his voice was pretty relaxing when it wasn’t too loud, but the words were...well…confusing.

“...what?” he knew a little bit about that stuff, Madame Zee, the fortune teller from the circus, had told him about supernatural occurrences in the world, including spirits and angels and the like, but not this stuff.

“You are Clint?” Ramiel asked and Clint nodded, “Then you are a human, but you have a supreme and powerful being sharing your body with you, for whatever reason Uriel chose to reside inside you when he came down to earth.”

“But why?”

“I do not know,” Ramiel said, because Uriel would be the last to come to earth, from what he was aware.

“I mean, why me? I’m not special,” he muttered and Ramiel chuckled softly.

“Nay, you are, there are humans with brighter souls than others, with more purity, and more light than others, and...if you were a child, I assume more innocence, and that is why you were chosen.”

“I was nine…” he muttered, and while he’d been told that was his age, it made sense to him, and just seemed right. But it also made him think it was too old to be innocent, and well, honestly he didn’t even know anything about his life before the circus. Before that fateful day in the woods, there was nothing. But surely he’d had a life, he could read and write, he knew his name, he knew what foods he liked and disliked, so there had been a life, he just couldn’t remember.

“Yes, Uriel is known for his sight and can see that better than any other angel, so it makes sense for him to choose you, if he saw the purity of a child’s soul,” Ramiel explained patiently.

“...oh,” Clint said and was still a little confused, “Is...is that why we’re all here?” he asked.

“Yes, that is correct, we are all here because of our Angels,” Ramiel explained.

“...that sucks,” he muttered and there was a smattering of chuckles around them.

“Well it’s not exactly a party,” James said back, vaguely amused, “So yeah, it does in fact suck.”

“Sorry,” Clint muttered.

“Hey, no it’s alright, it’s not like it’s your fault, you’re as much a victim as the rest of us, perhaps more so because you’re so young.”

“I’m not that young…” he muttered, petulant. 

“You’re younger than all of us,” James replied, sounding amused, but in a fond way, weird.

“I’m nineteen, that’s old enough to do a lot of shit!” he spluttered, the others were amused, he could tell.

“Ah-ha and that makes me twenty-eight, I’ve done a lot of shit, your point?” he drawled back and Clint huffed, his cheeks going faintly pink in embarrassment.

“You’re both young,” Tony replied, “I’m thirty- um....”

“Thirty-nine,” Bruce offered gently and Clint really needed to know what was up with that, “I’m forty-two.”

“Twenty-seven here,” Steve said, “But I don’t know if it really counts, I don’t think we actually age in here.”

“Twenty-four,” Natalia added, “And he has a point, you certainly don’t look twenty-eight,” she said to James and huffed out a sigh. 

“You know I’ve been here the longest,” he said, “Since I was eighteen.”

“So...from that, you’re the youngest,” she said, but it was teasing, he snorted.

“Sure,” he drawled.

“How long have you been here?” Clint asked, not really paying attention to the math.

“...ten years,” James said and Clint gaped.

“What!? But-  _ what?! _ ” he tried tugging free again because that was absolutely insane, how could anyone possibly be here for that long?

James let out another sigh, softer this time, “I’d just joined the army, I was a bit younger than I said, said I was 18 when I was really 17, but they didn’t particularly care as it was just bootcamp when I actually got deployed I was 18,” he replied, and then there was a short pause, him moving probably, Clint assumed as his voice was a bit closer now, “I was out on the front lines when it happened, it was all so confusing, loud, pain in my left side and everything was happening at once, things were flying around me, and I just didn’t know what to do when suddenly I...reached this area of calm, and he was there...his hand held out for mine, I took it and…” he shrugged.

“Who?” Clint asked, softly, but he was still confused.

“Adriel, he came to me while I was in battle, and then suddenly...it was like I was reborn, every shot I took hit one of the enemy soldiers, and when I shot with my left hand, I could take out tanks, it was...crazy,” he sounded awed despite himself, “It was covered in beautiful script, I couldn’t read it, but Adriel read it to me once, it’s beautiful to hear too, it made me cry. It really was something else, helping out my squad, doing all I could to make sure that we all made it out alive. But...something, or someone saw it, and the next thing I knew I was called into my SO’s office there were men in white, and then...I was here.”

He shrugged, though Clint couldn’t see, “I woke up with my left arm bound to my chest with this weird white cloth, it was soft, and yet hard, but it prevented me from moving it or doing any of the things I’d learned to do before, and I couldn’t hear Adriel anymore, it was...kind of disturbing. My own pain at the action was seen by no one, but it lasted long enough for me to get a bit scraped up. If what year you appeared is accurate, then I’ve been here since you appeared, and thus...for ten years.”

“Shit,” Clint muttered, his head was turned in James’ direction and he looked upset on his behalf, James felt a bit touched by his concern.

“Yeah...a few years later, Ramiel showed up, and his cell was completely black, haven’t seen him once.”

“I really would prefer not to speak of my circumstances, I am afraid I am too ashamed to admit to my faults yet,” the other man said, and okay, well that was fair, at least he was honest.

“Then Bruce showed up…” James prompted.

There was a pause, “I was studying for my doctorate...it involved gamma radiation, very dangerous work, but it was supposed to be a way to finding a new source of energy...but there was an explosion in one of the reactors...it hurt...it burned, everything burned, but then Azazael he was there and he saved me,” he trailed off, “...it was something else, once everything was all over, I found I was perfectly fine, and had managed to block all of my coworkers behind the radiation shielding, we continued our work, and then some, the military wanted to contract us out for weapons…” he shook his head, “I didn’t really like the idea, but we needed the funding...and Azazael pointed out if we didn’t control it, someone else would do it and it might end up worse.” He let out a huff of air, “But it worked, we made so much progress, but...I was still taken, just one day, on my way home, before I got in my car someone came up behind me...and then I was here.”

“His...breakdown wasn’t as severe as everyone else’s, he’s got a...well the white material is around his shoulders and neck, like a scarf,” James explained, “We think it locks away his emotions.”

“Something like that,” Bruce said in agreement and Clint frowned more, what the actual fuck was this place?

“I came next,” Steve said, “I was a soldier too, like James, but not fighting, at first, I was a medic, my own health isn’t the best, certainly not good enough to be on the front lines, but I had some pretty extensive medical knowledge that they could make useful out in the field, and well, the field hospital I worked at...it ah...there was a bomb,” his voice softened, “But Michael he was there...he took my hand and...I was strong, and healthy and able to save all of the people in the ward,” he smiled, “It was amazing, I wasn’t suffering every minute, I was able to help those in need, I was able to go out on the front lines to help people seconds after they were hurt, to be there the second it matter and to actually make a difference. Then I was pushed up the ladder a bit, promoted so I could organize rescue efforts, find better places for the field hospitals, even help the locals, to help them with escape plans just in case, it really…it was amazing...and then…” he let out a breath, “I was also called in to my SOs office and...the next thing I remember was waking up here.”

“He broke like three bones trying to throw the cot when he woke up and he couldn’t hear Michael,” James said, “He had to be strapped down for two weeks so they could heal.”   
“...yikes,” Clint muttered, and really hoped he wouldn’t be strapped down for that long.

“Mhmm,” Steve agreed, “And I have the white materials around all four of my limbs, wrists and ankles, I always was a bit small, but Michael helped my bulk up, made it easier to carry people to safety, but now...I’m smaller than I was before...it’s disconcerting to say the least.”

That was entirely disconcerting in Clint’s opinion, but really he felt a lot of sympathy, they all seemed to have something taken from them, didn’t they?

“I used to be a dancer,” Natalia said, “In my homeland of Russia, I was in the Russian Ballet,” she sounded proud, and well Clint didn’t really know much about ballet, just that it was not an easy dance to perform, “I was the best in the whole program, but there was a war going on...and one of the performance halls was bombed...everything was so...hectic and it felt so...wrong and it hurt, stabbing in places, but then...there was Raziel, she was ready to take me to safety, so fast and so graceful,” she was smiling, Clint could tell. 

“I was able to save most of my fellow dancers because of her, but not all, however, because of the explosion and our lost comrades, we started helping more with the war efforts, dancing to raise money, and I was pleased to do something of value, even if I couldn’t exactly tell anyone why my dancing had suddenly become nearly ethereal,” she laughed softly, “But it did not go unnoticed, I was approached for a ‘job opportunity’ and before I could answer, everything went black, and I was here,” she let out a soft sigh, “I miss dancing…”

“You can’t dance now?” Clint asked, he was starting to see (har har) a trend here.

“No...moving in general is rather more embarrassing than it used to be,” she said, “There is a sash around my waist of the white material, it makes it quite hard to walk without tripping over myself.”

“I’m sorry…” he said softly, and that was for all of them, and perhaps himself.

“Don’t be,  дорогая,” she cooed gently, the last word in her native language, “You are not at fault, and are just as much a victim as the rest of us.”

He nodded, but still he was sorry.

“Hey, is it my turn yet?” Tony huffed, “So...anyway, I used to be a super rich and successful -also handsome- weapons maker, and then I was kidnapped by some assholes who wanted my tech, and well torture happened and I got pissed and fought back and there was some more torture and the there were explosions, then here comes this asshole angel to save me,” he huffed, but Clint could tell somehow that he was teasing, “Gabriel, he helped me create a way home, and from there I made a few changes, helped people out created new ways to do...well a lot of things, thought I was doing good, ya know? But then these assholes in white showed up and poof, here I am.”

“You’re right that is boring in comparison to mine,” Clint said, and heard the man splutter while everyone else laughed, he grinned.

“Oh sure, yuck it up,” Tony grunted.

“Yeah, see, Tony would offer a better insult but sadly, they locked away his mind,” James explained, and while it was said with an air of teasing, it was pretty obvious it was more sad than anything else.

“They what?” Clint gaped, because that just sounded wrong and gross, on so many levels.

“Mhmm, the white cloth is around his head, it makes it really hard for him to think, like for words, or scenarios or new ideas, just...anything, it’s a shame, apparently he’s a genius…”

“Which makes sense for them to lock it away, if he could think properly, he’d likely find us a way out pronto,” Steve said.

“Yeah...probably have five ways out by now if I could,” Tony grunted in agreement, this was terrible.

Everything about this was awful.

“Then...what do we do?”

“What do you mean?” James asked.

“We can’t just stay like this!” Clint said insistently.

“What can we do?” James asked gently, and Clint floundered for a minute because...what could they do? They all had themselves locked away, or pieces of themselves, their most important parts, which made it impossible to free themselves.

He opened and closed his mouth a few times finally snapping it shut, and then turning his head away, he’d even hoping there was some magical plan they’d been hatching and a seventh member was a the final piece, but that was perhaps just childish whimsy. 

They were trapped here, and there was no way out.

 

~

 

After the initial introductions and Clint being freed from being held down, which took what felt like several days and a lot of discipline, it took so much not to take off the blindfold that would be the thing he wanted to do the most, and his hands itched to do it, he didn’t, because according to the others, the repercussions were never worth it, he decided that he really really missed the circus, even if he was a weird angel vessel.

But the others weren’t bad at all, he liked them, he actually really liked them, it felt like they’d known each other for years, which technically they had, or their angels had.

He talked to them as much as possible, but he found he usually talked to James the most, James had a way of describing things that made it easy for Clint to picture it in his head, like the layout of their cells.

“It’s in a large backwards J,” he’d said, “I’m at the top, then you, then Ramiel, Natalia is in the loop, then it’s Steve, Tony and Bruce, right across from me is the entrance, but really it’s just a big white wall. Everything here is white, the walls, the floors, the beds, everything, except for the walls separating us, that’s glass. I’m not sure why...it’s like they want us to see each other for some reason.”

And to top it off, he had a really nice voice, Clint enjoyed listening to it.

Thanks to that, Clint just seemed to gravitate towards him and they could talk for hours, about practically anything. It was nice, at least as nice as it could get under the circumstances.

It was a distraction to talk, and just be able to pretend like nothing was wrong.

“What’s your favorite season?” Clint asked, because they were covering ‘favorite things’, and well it was the first thing to pop in his head.

“Strangely...winter,” James replied, “When the world is covered in a blanket of white, and the snow is falling gently from the sky and there’s silence and peace...it’s really calming,” he said fondly, “What about you?”

Clint laughed, “I’m the total opposite!” he grinned, his back pressed up against the glass wall of his cell, “I like the summer, with the crickets chirping and the kids laughing as they go around on the carousel, the smells of the food, jumping in the creek,” he said excitedly, “Though that was always best in Spring, when the water was freezing from the melting snow, it was also fun to push people in who were being jerks.”

James laughed, “That does sound fun,” he agreed, “Encountered a lot of jerks?”

“Naaaw, not really, but you know how people can be, some just had a bad day, but most of the circus folks were pretty great, one guy was kind of always a jerk but I’m pretty sure he was just in love with the Lion Tamer’s wife, but she loved a guy who could handle big cats, so he didn’t stand a chance.”

James burst into laughter, “Sounds like a fun place to grow up.”

Clint grinned, “Yeah, it was great, and every night we were in a city we’d put a show on, and the crowds would come from all over to watch us perform. The Ringleader would introduce the acts, first the intro, it was everyone parading around showing off, the acrobats on top of the elephants, you know, things like that, it got everyone excited, and then the trapeze artists would go first, they were a good start, kept the excitement up you know? Flipping through the air with death defying feats, but they practiced almost more than anyone else, so precise,” he said, and James enjoyed listening to him talk about things he loved, the excitement in his voice was so endearing.

“Right, right,” James agreed to let him know he was still listening, “And then what?”

“Well then it’d be the fire eaters, they were a couple, we were pretty sure they liked fire breathing in bed,” Clint snickered, “But yeah, they were awesome, she’d like hang on him upside down, right? It was cool looking, people loved it. Then after them was the contortionist, she was...crazy, she could fit in a box that was like this big!” he gestured with his hands though he couldn’t see them he hoped it was about the right size.

“Wow...must not be very comfortable,” James commented, he already lived in a box, he sure didn’t need a smaller one.

“No, but she was fine, I don’t think she had a spine,” Clint replied and James chuckled, Clint grinned to himself, he was glad when he made the other man laugh.

“And when did you come on?” he asked, and Clint grinned.

“I was after the lion tamer, I would appear on the trapeze, throw my knives and then they’d lower me to the ground, and I’d grab my bow, sometimes I’d get a ‘volunteer’ from the audience, but it was never really a real volunteer, it was a plant, cause you know, I couldn’t actually shoot an arrow at a person without liability issues,” he said and James hummed in agreement, “I’d do my act, and everyone loved it, then we’d have clowns to give everyone a chance to get ready for the finale, where everyone did some of their best tricks, the crowds went wild...it was just...awesome.”   
“Sounds like it,’ James agreed, and smiled a bit sadly when he heard the sadness in Clint’s voice, “Someday you’ll have to show me your act.”

“I will,” Clint promised, but was still sad, “I hope they’re okay...I know...my act brought in a bit of money, ‘The Amazing Hawkeye, the marksman who never misses’, it was a lot to hold up to, ya know? People wanted to see me miss, but they never did, and I always amazed them. I had a bit of a reputation...I wonder if that’s how they found me…”

“We don’t know,” James said softly, “They could have found us in any number of ways.”

“Yeah...I just hope the others are okay,” he muttered and James felt for him he’d hoped his squad was safe, or home or anything now, they should be home by now, but he honestly had no idea.

“I hope so too,” James replied and saw the blond nod, he was still sad and James knew there was little he could do about that to make him feel better so he sat down back to back with him to the glass and was there with him in solidarity.

 

Getting closer was to be expected, they all talked to each other, got to know one another, were able to banter back and forth for hours on end, and it was kind of like a family, it would have been if not for the walls separating them, keeping them from sharing comforts like hugs and general touches people gave each other. It was something they all yearned for, but there was nothing they could do about it.

When they were released out of the cells it was only to go do tests.

Which for Clint was terrifying he had no idea what they were doing as he couldn’t see them do it, but it was usually things like taking blood samples and heart readings and other things like that, and then they’d make him do physical activities, run or lift weights, it was really weird.

Then they’d make him do exercises like where there was a sound and he had to feel things and see what was different, and it was all totally weird and made no sense, but if he didn’t do it, he’d get an electrical shock, and that was definitely not worth not doing the dumb things they wanted of him.

So he did them, and that’s how all the others felt too, they did it because it was easier to do that than get shocked.

 

“Why do they even want us…?” Clint muttered one day.

“No idea, they haven’t changed anything in all the time I’ve been here,” James said, “Every seven days they take us for tests and then they bring us back…”

“That’s it…?” he asked and James hummed in acknowledgement.

“That’s it...we’re just here sitting on our asses otherwise, when we start talking about other things like our angels in depth is when they get involved.”

“Fantastic,” Clint sighed, he was kind of wanting to know more, as of them all, he was the one with the least amount of information on their alter egos, or whatever.

“I know...but we have other stuff to talk about,” James said trying to be reassuring, “It helps...a little.”

Clint let out a soft sigh, “I don’t know how you did it, how you do it...you’ve been here so long, and you’re...you’re not crazy, I’d be absolutely off my rocker if I was you…” he muttered.

“Yeah...at times I wanted to be but...I just...had the feeling that I should wait, be patient…” James replied, “Like I knew someone would someday come for me.”

“Oh…” Clint said, and well he sort of understood, but it was bit silly, especially after ten years.

He was silent for a long time, “You think they’d get me some coffee if I promised to be good?”

James laughed, “No, I doubt it, they don’t feed us.”

“Wait  _ what?! _ ” Clint turned around, even though he couldn’t see, he was sure James could see the shock on his face, “How can they not feed us?!”

“You’ve been in here for at least a month, I think if my counting is right,” James said, “And you just now craved coffee, and you haven’t noticed we haven’t been fed once?”

Clint paused and then did realize there had been no meal times or nutrition of any kind for any of them.

“What...but...how are we- how are  _ you _ alive if they’ve never fed you?”

“How do I still look like an eighteen year old?” James countered, “I have no idea, I can assume, and maybe make some educated guesses, but in reality I don’t know.”

“...it’s impossible…” Clint said, for lack of anything else to say.

“Yeah...but so are angels, sooo we can forget about impossible,” James replied, “I think it’s the rooms we’re in. It’s possible that there can only be...huh...seven….seven walls, including the floor and ceiling, seven cells...seven angels….seven days…” 

“You think...they need seven of us for something?” Clint asked softly and heard nothing for a long while.

“No idea, but...well...the walls, they’re not like normal walls, they’re white, but like...the glow or something? And they’re not cold, or warm they just feel like a barrier, at your exact temperature,” and Clint did notice that the floor wasn’t cold to sit on, he wasn’t cold, or hot, he just was, it was like being frozen in time.

Which could very well be exactly what it was, if James was still eighteen looking, and the others, they apparently looked the same too...then maybe they were in a time loop or something and the other people, they wore white (James had told him) did so so they weren’t affected? That made a lot of sense.

“...I hope whatever it is they’re doing is almost done...this sucks...I want coffee,” Clint sighed, trying to keep it lighthearted, there was no need to get depressed, not when shit couldn’t really get more depressing.

“Likewise,” James replied, “How do you take your coffee?” 

“Mostly black, with just a bit of milk,” Clint replied promptly, “Kinda gives it a bit less kick, and I can drink more of it.”

“Ahaaa, is that right?” James laughed, “I like mine with a few shovels of sugar when I’m feeling fancy, but in the military black was it, and I kind of grew accustomed to it.”

“Well...when we get out I’ll buy you some of the good stuff,” Clint promised, which was absurd as he had no money, but as that was the least of their worries at the moment, James was kind enough not to mention it.

“Oh really?” James asked, and smiled when Clint nodded, a grin on his lips. James momentarily wished he could see the smile in his eyes too, but knew bringing it up would just be scratching at an open wound.

But thus, they talked, and talked.

 

Clint got to know all of them really very well, even Ramiel to an extent who was somewhat reticent when it came to details about his life. He still knew a decent amount about him. They were his family now. And that was more than he could ask for, he was locked up, he was blindfolded and he had no idea what was going to happen to him, but at least he wasn’t alone.

However, while he did speak to the others, he still spent most of his time chatting with James, they just seemed to get along so well. Better than how Steve and Tony got along that was for sure, though it was pretty obvious they still cared about each other even when they bitched.

Honestly being stuck here was probably the worst kind of torture Clint could conceive, he wanted to be out in the world, learning new things and watching people and just experiencing life.

James felt the same way, and Clint felt just awful, for the ten years Clint could remember being around, James had been here, locked away, and for some of that time, completely alone.

“It’s alright,” James said when Clint expressed his feelings on the matter, “It’s not like there was anything you could do about it, don’t worry about it. Let’s talk about something else.”

Clint opened his mouth to agree when the main door opened, his ears were attuned to that sound now, he snapped his mouth closed and waited. This wasn’t the usual time they took someone, not that it felt like that time anyway.

“Mmm, good, good,” a voice he didn’t recognize said and that was new really the guards never spoke, and even when giving him instructions it was a computerized voice, “Yes, I think they’ll make him very happy.”

“Make who happy?” Steve demanded, and there was a long pause.

“Someone special,” the new voice replied, “If you’re all good, you might get to actually meet them.”

“What exactly does ‘good’ entail? We can’t do shit, what the hell more do you want?” Tony scoffed, disgusted.

“Only your cooperation as we finish up our experiments, it truly isn’t that hard. But if not we can make things very hard...I’m sure you remember how hard it can be, can’t you Adriel?” the voice asked and Clint did not like that tone of voice one little bit.

“Fuck off asswipe! You have no right to do this to any of us!” he snapped, because he didn’t know what else to say, he just didn’t want him focused on James.

“Aaah, the new addition, aren’t you excitable,” the voice sounded amused, “Make no mistake, boy, we have use for you yet, now be good, we wouldn’t want you to be punished.”

The condescending attitude only served to piss Clint off further, his hands clenched.

“Leave him alone,” James insisted and he was standing up for Clint? That was, well it made Clint feel warm and fuzzy inside, even if the action was useless, it was still nice.

“Oh we can’t do that, then we won’t make any progress, he does seem to be one of the more useful ones, doesn’t he? He can already fight, and didn’t need any angelic boost for that, he could be more useful than you.” 

“I ain’t useful to any asshole like you!” Clint snarled, the anger was back, and it was a lot fiercer.

“We shall see, I would hate to have to...persuade you...right, Adriel?” 

And that was it, threatening James? Fuck. That.

“Persuade this!” Clint snarled and then tore the goddamn blindfold off and glared, pushing all of the hate and anger he felt into the glare, hoping so hard that it would hurt the man speaking, but he was a bit off when his eyes found a body and instead his gaze first landed on one of the guards in white, he dropped like a sack of potatoes after only a few seconds, and by then the other guard was smacking the wall and it started to go black, Clint was able to glare barely at the man smirking at him, he was older, and was someone Clint had never met before. He seemed pleased, almost. But wasn’t reacting at all to being glared at, like it didn’t affect him, though his smile did fade a little when Clint took a step forward and hit his fist to the glass, staring him down. He had to have felt something then if the pain on his face was any indication.

But too late the glass was all black, and then the room was silent and suddenly very dark. He couldn’t see again. And now he also couldn’t hear.

 

“Clint!” James had his hand pressed against the wall adjoining their cells, but he couldn’t see anything, and knew Clint couldn’t hear him, and he couldn’t hear Clint. 

They’d watched the second guard drag out the first through the door, and only glared at the man, they all did until he left too.

James didn’t know his name, but he did know he hated him, and for various reasons he’d really rather not think about right then.

“Clint?” he tried again, but he knew it would do no good.

“Well...I can see what you mean by him being more dangerous, Ramiel,” Tony said sounding both awed and shaken, “Did he just...kill a guy by... _ glaring? _ ”

“Aye…” Ramiel said, and he too sounded a bit startled, “That...was not exactly what I meant, but it certainly proves to me how much he is underestimated.”

“He’s underestimated?” Steve asked, “Why?”

“He is rarely involved in anything; battles, discussions, gatherings, he only watches,” Ramiel said, “But he is unrivaled when it comes to aim, he is even better than Adriel.”

James blinked because, whoa, that was...crazy, and Clint really had told them as much, hadn’t he? In the circus a part of his act had been ‘never missing’. 

“That’s...kind of, wow,” Steve said, “...do you think that’s why he’s a little different, why he can’t remember Uriel?”

“I do not know, my friend,” Ramiel said and the others lapsed into silence, gazing at the large black box blocking Clint from them and vice versa.

James let out a long gust of air and then moved to sit, and wait. 

 

It was black, so black, he had only realized now how well he could see at night compared to this, the whole room was devoid of light preventing him from seeing at all. He also couldn’t hear anything, he could barely hear his own foot falls, like there was a damper or something, soundproofing, but he sure as heck couldn’t hear any other voices, he tried calling out, but it was like his voice got sucked into a void. 

His hand was still placed on the wall, and he moved along it to get to the wall that he knew was adjacent to James’ cell.

He pressed up against it and took a deep breath to try and calm his racing heart. He’d been so angry, that man, whatever he’d done to James, Clint wanted to kill him. He wanted to kill him so much, he wanted to save James from whatever had happened to him, he wanted to save all of them.

“ **_We will._ ** ”

Clint froze, “Uriel,” he said after a long moment.

“ **_Yes._ ** ”

He swallowed, because this was crazy, he’d never heard this voice before, it was in his head, but it didn’t feel invasive, it was like he was a part of him, and being able to hear him was a comfort.

“Why...now?” he asked, unable to come up with any other way to ask why he’d never heard him before, if he’d been around for the last ten years, why had he never interacted before this moment?

“ **_It is not an easy thing, to fall to the earth,_ ** ” Uriel replied, and it sounded like Clint’s voice, but not at the same time, “ **_It was harder when one collides with a pure soul unintentionally._ ** ”

“...what?” Clint’s eyebrows furrowed.

“ **_I apologize, I was distressed and intended to come to the earth to save my brethren and in doing so, unintentionally latched onto the purest soul closest to me, which so happened to be you, I stole you away from a peaceful rest, and for that I apologize._ ** ” 

Clint frowned, a peaceful rest, does that mean his eyes widened, though no one was there to see it, “I was...dead?” 

Uriel was silent, which was enough of an answer.

“Oh,” he said, “I...it’s okay,” he said after a deep breath, “I think...I think it’s given me a good life, the second chance or whatever, and now...I get to meet other people like me, it’s okay.” And it really was, he didn’t remember his life before and now it made sense he supposed, if he’d died and been on his way to the afterlife...shit that meant he’d died when he was nine. Yikes.

He opened his mouth to ask how he died, but then decided he didn’t really want to know. If he didn’t remember before, it was likely for good reason.

“Okay...okay, so...what do we do?”

Uriel let out a soft sigh, “ **_There is not much we can do, the room we are in, white alight suppresses my power and then the blindfold blocks me and the power entirely, when you took it off it gave me a burst of energy that allowed me to speak with you now_ ** ,” he replied.

“Oh...so...basically, they make us keep them to make sure all of the angels don’t have power,” Clint frowned, “Would we be able to do anything if we all took it off at the same time?”

“ **_I am afraid there is not much, the mind that created these rooms and garments was very knowledgeable about Enochian, and how to suppress us, the room still makes it hard to communicate, the only reason we can speak now is because it has been blacked out._ ** ”

“Then….what do we do? You said we were going to save them,” Clint insisted and he felt something like a caress through his mind.

“ **_We will do the best we can,_ ** ” Uriel said, “ **_But I do not see us being able to break out without help, for which...I am sure is coming, when however, I do not know, and until then, it should be up to us to keep the others strong. Once we are out, that is when our power will truly help them._ ** ”

“But…” Clint pressed his lips together, he had a vision of breaking James out of his cell and finally being able to see him- 

He inhaled sharply, in the time that he’d glared down the asshole, he could have looked at James, he could have known what he looked like, so he could imagine him in his head when they talked, but he hadn’t he’d been too consumed by his anger to even think it.

“ **_Worry not, we will be free, and then together._ ** ”

“...okay,” he whispered, staring at the black wall in front of him, seeing nothing, and wishing he hadn’t been so focused on hurting the man, but if he had...maybe they’d be free- no that wasn’t likely the guards were there and there were scientists and whoever was responsible for all of this. 

“ **_We will prevail,_ ** ” Uriel said confidently, “ **_Now...unfortunately I believe that in order for you to be free of the darkness...you will have to replace the blindfold...but in doing so, I will no longer be able to speak with you directly_ ** .”

“But I don’t want to-” he whispered, feeling a bit childish and also suddenly feeling weepy, he didn’t want to do any of this, he just wanted to go back to the circus and be happy like he had been.

“ **_I know it is hard, and the battle is not won, but in the end, it will be better,_ ** ” Uriel said softly, “ **_We will be free, and the others safe, and when the final battle does arrive, we will be prepared._ ** ”

“But I don’t-” Clint rubbed at his eyes now, they were leaking and he desperately wanted them to stop but they wouldn’t, he wanted to see James too, he actually wanted to see James so much more than he wanted to return to the circus, but he’d rather he was able to take James with him, and they could be together.

“ **_I know,-_ ** ” Uriel said something here in another language Clint didn’t know, but it sounded like an endearment, one that filled him with warmth, “ **_I will still be here, and I will try to guide you as I can, but just focus on connecting with the others for now, that is important, our bond as brethren helps us, just carry on, we will prevail. But first you need to be able to speak with them again, and I believe the only way to do that is for our captors to think you have earned that back._ ** ”

Clint didn’t like that at all, but it made sense, “Okay…” he whispered, taking the cloth still in his hand and moving it up to do so, “You’ll still be with me?”

“ **_I will always be with you_ ** ,” he said the word again, fondness radiating in his head. Clint nodded and then put the blindfold back on, shuddering at the feeling of suddenly being cut off, a feeling he hadn’t noticed before. And now he felt more alone than he could remember. Uriel had always been with him and now knowing that, and knowing he was locked away, hurt a lot.

He slid down the wall, and laid down in the corner of the wall and floor and waited, he wanted to be able to hear James’ voice again, so very desperately, he didn’t want to be separated from him ever again.

He was going to make sure they were safe, and happy. He would take Uriel’s words to heart, they would prevail. And they would be free.

Someday.

 

James was sitting with his back to the black wall, waiting. He had a good idea what Clint was experiencing, as he had himself many times before, a room of complete suffocating darkness, it muffled things on top of it all so when you screamed it didn’t sound like you’d barely made a sound. Being inside for so long was torture, James hated that Clint was in it now, and had been for what he assumed was the last several days.

Waiting was terrible too, the others hadn’t really spoken much either, waiting for Clint to be seen again to make sure he was okay.

“Clint!” Natalia said suddenly and James moved fast, turning as fast as he could with only one arm available, and noted that he could finally see Clint.

He was curled up on his side, pressed up against the wall as much as he physically could be, the blindfold was back in place, but overall, he looked okay.

“Clint,” James said and the blond head moved, jerking a bit.

“J-James?” he croaked, and James let out a soft laugh.

“Yeah, yeah, it’s all good, you’re okay, and we can see you,” he said reassuringly, putting a hand up on the glass. He watched as the blonde swallowed and nodded.

“G-good...good,” he mumbled, “Is...everyone else okay?”

“Yeah, we’re all fine, just worried about you,” James replied, Clint nodded.

“Sorry...I just...he made me so mad and I couldn’t-” he took in a shaky breath and James’s hand fisted against the glass, he wished so hard he could comfort him, to hold him and let him let it out.

“Hey, it’s okay,” he cooed, “We’re just glad you’re alright.”

Clint nodded again and leaned forward slowly so he could rest his forehead against the glass, he looked so young, curled up on the floor like that.

“Uriel talked to me,” he said after a long pause, and that had everyone looking up, “He said we had to stick together...and...and everything was going to be alright.”

“Oh, that’s good to know, I’m so glad he told us something useful…” Tony grumbled, and James shot him a glare, Tony held his hands up in surrender.

“That’s good,” James said, “We can do that.”

Clint nodded against the glass, he seemed to be exhausted, but happy to be able to hear them again, he put his hand up on the glass too and James pushed his up to match up with it.

“We’ve gotta stick together,” Clint said softly, but James could still hear it.

“We will,” James promised putting his own forehead against the glass where Clint’s was, and Clint nodded again, as if that was something he really desperately needed to hear. They stayed there, for a full minute, as if Clint knew James was there.

 

Things proceeded like before, they would talk to each other and carry on. But it seemed things were being stepped up, sometimes two of them were gone at the same time for tests, and more blood was being drawn, and there was a sense of urgency, like something was coming.

They could only hope it was freedom.

But still Clint and James talked the most, and it got to the point that it was now almost painful to think about how they were separated from each other with several inches of glass. So they distracted each other with stories, Clint was full of silly anecdotes of his time in the circus and James had tales of bravery and valor from his time in the military, somehow they never ran out of things to talk about.   
  


“This one time, me and the guys were playing poker, and well we didn’t really have much to bet save for rations and such, so we just automatically resort to strip poker,” James was saying.

“Oh my god,” Clint laughed.

“I wasn’t really big on being naked. Needless to say, I won a lot.”

Clint cackled in laughter, they still managed to have a good time.

 

They both admitted it felt like they knew each other already despite that, and then both had felt the flutter inside which meant that their angels agreed with them, so perhaps that meant that their angels had been close before coming to earth? Well either way, it was nice to be able to connect so well with someone else even in this situation.

But in a sense that made it even harder when they were separated for the hours or days when they were taken for tests.

After one such separation they were sitting up against the wall, talking softly of anything that came to mind, before Clint burst.

“I wish I could see you,” he said, “I wish- when I’d taken it off, I wish I’d taken a moment to see what you looked like, instead I was so angry I didn’t even think about it and now-” he swallowed and James closed his own eyes.

“I wish I could touch you…” he replied after a short pause, “I wish I could hold you, feel your skin...feel your weight against me...someday...I promise it’ll happen.”

Clint swallowed and tried his best not to let any tears escape but he couldn’t stop them, luckily the white cloth over them captured them so no one else had to know.

“Someday,” he promised back.

 

~

 

Life for them continued, with more talks and more of them all getting closer, of knowing so much of each other they were almost sick of each other by then. Though that didn’t apply to James and Clint for some odd reason, they couldn’t get enough of each other. The others noticed, they kindly did not mention. Much. There might have been hinting, but that was it. Honestly could anyone blame them? What else were they supposed to do?

They were there for far too long, but not forever. As Uriel said they only needed to wait.

Some time, perhaps a year after Clint joined them, something happened, the building shook and rattled, the whiteness in the room pulsed, they looked at each other and all stood, waiting.

It took too long, far far too long, but eventually someone came through the main door, and then stopped.

“Hello,” another new voice, “My name is Agent Phil Coulson, and I’m here with SHIELD we’re here to get you out.”

There was a short pause as they all took that in and likely took in the newcomer. It wasn’t likely he was lying, right?

“Huh, I’ve never heard of SHIELD before,” Tony said, “But...if you’re really for real...then I guess you’re not so bad.”

Clint felt a nudge in his mind, and then slowly lifted up his blindfold, nothing happened, he pulled it off all the way, and then gazed at the man carefully.

“You’re really here to get us out?” Steve asked.

“I am, however, I don’t know how to release you from your cells…” he was frowning, “There are no panels or keyholes…”

“How can we trust you?” Tony asked, crossing his arms.

“He’s not lying,” Clint said and he knew, somehow he knew what the man said was true, the man turned to look at him and Clint saw his eyes widened just slightly.

“Okay...sooo, how do we get out then?” Tony asked with a huff.

“I can take care of that,” James said and then Clint turned to look at him and holy shit, he felt his heart swell, James was beautiful.

He had longish brown hair, and was very fit, there was white cloth wrapped around his arm over the sort of scrub like clothes they all had on, he was in the middle of unwrapping his arm of the cloth.

“Oh god, yes!” Tony said also noticing they were free to remove their bonds, and then he was furiously pulling at the cloth at his head, Clint looked around and noticed the rest of them were also pulling at the cloths, a fervor in their movements he felt had never been there before, they were so desperate to be free. 

Clint’s eyes returned to James however, and looked at him, at his face, and his now freed arm which was really something else, it was covered in beautiful script, Clint really wanted to touch it.

James looked over at him and finally their eyes met and he was trapped in Clint’s gaze for, well a lot longer than the others seemed to appreciate.

“Hey! Romeo, I thought you had a plan to get us out! Stop staring at Juliet and get on with it!” Tony barked, and then James and Clint flushed.

“Shut up, Tony!” Clint said, though it was weak, Tony didn’t bother to reply.

James nodded, “You might want to stand back,” he told the agent who did so, James pulled back his left arm, and then thrust it forward, the glass cracked in all different directions, but it didn’t shatter or break, yet.

“Damn, need more force,” James muttered and then did it again, this time the wall shattered, he stepped through and immediately went to the wall of Clint’s cell and did the same thing, he took one step in and Clint really didn’t need much more incentive than that, he threw himself at the other man.

The feeling of arms around him, of James arms around him holding him tight was probably the sweetest thing he’d ever felt, it was warm and secure and he never ever wanted him to let go. It was a weight off his chest he didn’t know he had, it was like finally coming home. 

James’ face was buried in his hair and he was holding on almost too tight, so was Clint, his face buried in James’ neck, arms wrapped tightly around his middle. He never wanted to let go ever again.

“Hey, not that we’re not really touched by you guys finally getting all cuddly...but we kind of want out too,” Steve said sounding amused but with an edge of impatience.

“Ah...right,” James cleared his throat, he turned around, but he wasn’t willing to let go of Clint yet, he grabbed his hand with his right hand and then moved to start shattering the other glass walls, releasing their friends, Bruce, when granted freedom took a deep breath and then punched a wall, letting out a good deal of his suppressed emotions. If his expression was any indication, he was furious.

Steve and Tony just started bitching at each other, until Clint shoved Tony into Steve’s suddenly massive chest, Clint had only glimpsed at him, right as he was tugging off his bonds and then he’d very suddenly been massively muscley. And now Tony’s face was in his chest cleavage, both of them spluttered magnificently. Tony deserved it. 

Natalia grinned at them, then pecked each on their cheeks fondly, “ Спасибо , ребята.”

“Ramiel?” James called, “Are you away from the wall?”

“Aye, as well as I can be, my friend,” Ramiel replied and James nodded and then shattered the glass.

“Holy shit,” Clint gaped the moment the glass was shattering and falling to the floor.

With his freedom, it became very clear as to why they hadn’t ever been able to see Ramiel, he was a big man, muscular, with long blond hair, his arms and legs were all pulled to corners of the room with both the white cloth and chains covered in more of the script.

But the most obvious thing, were the large white wings protruding from his back, they too were covered in chains and the cloth, making it impossible for Ramiel to move.

“Shit,” Tony said also, having taken a break from arguing with Steve about his manboobs, “Can you break the chains?”

“I can sure try…” James muttered, stepping in to start taking off the cloths, Clint helped also, though was a bit disappointed they had to let go of their hands to do so. 

“Okay...tell me if it hurts,” he said and Ramiel nodded, then braced himself while James started to grip the chains and then pull, it took a lot of effort, and there was more shaking, and some screams now coming from above and around them. Finally after far too long, Ramiel was free, His wings were the hardest as they seemed to be the most sensitive, but with the help of all the others they were able to free him and only needed a hand for a moment before he was able to stand at his full height. His wings now folded delicately behind him.

“Thank you, my friends, now please, let us leave this accursed place and not stay a moment longer.”

“Agreed,” Steve said and then turned and gestured at the agent, “Lead on, get us the hell out of here.”

“Blasphemy!” Tony chirped and then was smacked upside the head by Natalia and Bruce simultaneously. “Ow…”

“I have wanted to do that a lot,” Bruce said, “A lot.”

The rest of them chuckled while Tony looked mildly affronted.

“Let’s go,” Steve insisted, and really they were already moving towards the doorway.

Agent Coulson nodded and turned around gestured them on, “It took us far too long to locate this place and even longer to find a way to infiltrate it,” he said.

James had found Clint’s had again and was first behind Steve, Clint held fast and tight to the hand, feeling something like elation, they were led out of the seven walls of suppression and each one gave an audible gasp once free.

“Jeez, I didn’t realize how much I’d lost of him in there,” Tony muttered, rubbing at his chest he paused, presumably to listen to Gabriel, “Oh there he is, and now he just has a lot to say...I think I’m gonna head back in,” he went so far as to turn around but Bruce grabbed his arm and just dragged him along.

“We’re almost out,” James muttered, and Clint squeezed his hand.

“I want to see the sky,” he said, more than ready to no longer be confined, then he laughed, “I’m ready to get you that coffee.”

James smiled, “I’m ready to drink it.”

Clint beamed at him, turning at him to do so, he loved looking at him.

“Your eyes...god they are so beautiful,” James told him smiling, Clint flushed.

“Well...your arm is really pretty amazing too,” he said and James smiled, squeezing his hand.

Once they were out of the building, luckily it wasn’t too far, only a few rooms and alls away were in their way to get to the outside, they bypassed a lot of people in black taking down people in white, ironic really, but also satisfying.

Taking that first step outside, it really was freedom. No longer confined to such a small space, freedom was delicious.

“It’s raining!” Clint laughed running out, dragging James with him, “Ha!” He thrust his hands up to the sky, bringing James hand with him, his face turned up to feel the raindrops on his face. 

James laughed, going along with Clint’s excitement, and also enjoying the feel of the water drops on his skin, it felt so good, all of it.

“This is amazing,” Clint laughed moving over to face James, his smile taking over his face.

“It really is,” James agreed and without a second thought, he grabbed Clint’s face and kissed him. 

Clint was shocked, and James pulled back thinking he might have gone too far, but Clint was gazing at him in amazement.

“Wow…” he whispered, then seemed to realize James had pulled back, “No wait, more,  _ more _ ,” he demanded getting on his toes to instigate another kiss.

James laughed into it, and was more than willing to oblige, he wrapped his arms around Clint, keeping him close and the kiss sweet.

“Ewwwwwwwww!” someone said and they broke apart to glower at Tony, who was grinning like a moron.

“Steve, please take care of your trained monkey,” James drawled, and Clint laughed as he watched Steve throw an arm around Tony and drag him away, though Tony was distracted by a phone one of the agents was holding nearby, they didn’t have to worry.

James laughed softly, and pulled Clint in for a hug, keeping him close. Clint curled into his chest and let out a soft happy breath, he was pretty sure James was never going to let him go, and he really had no problem with that.

“Gather ‘em up!” someone barked and suddenly there were men with large guns corralling them together.

“What the hell is this?!” Steve barked, because they’d just been told they were being helped.

Luckily that was when Agent Coulson reappeared from wherever he’d vanished, “What’s going on over here?” he demanded.

“Orders were to gather up anyone who was within the premises, and that includes them,” the soldier said.

“I gave no such order,” Agent Coulson frowned.

“Orders came from the top. We aren’t allowed to let anyone leave,” the man was saying, Clint pulled away from James then he looked at Ramiel, they made eye contact.

“We can’t be locked up again...at least...not all of us,” Clint said with prompting from Uriel, and James asked what he meant, but Ramiel nodded.

And then his wings were spread and he was launching himself into the air, the soldiers around them all cried out and aimed their weapons, which was not appreciated by Bruce.

He was beyond angry, and with all of the anger he’d had suppressed for far too long, he exploded, both literally and verbally.

He roared, his arms flung out, and a burst of something, angelic energy perhaps, came from him a tidal wave of an invisible force from all angles, and threw the humans to the ground leaving them scrambling.

It was plenty of time to give Ramiel a head start.

However it was too much for the rest of them and soon, Bruce collapsed because of the exertion, and the rest of them were handcuffed with very strong restraints and shuffled into the back of a reinforced truck.

Small mercy was that Clint and James were still able to touch the whole ride, their shoulders and thighs pressed together.

 

“What’s going to happen to us now?” Clint muttered, his head on James’ shoulder.

“Don’t worry, they can’t keep us for too long, and besides, I may be a Daeva now but I’m Tony Stark. When I got that phone, I was able to contact my personal assistant from before I went missing, something will come of it,” he was utterly sure of it.

“You’re sure?” Steve asked, Tony nodded.

“Oh yes, if I didn’t know any better, I’d say Pepper Potts was an angel.”

As it turned out, Pepper Potts was more like a demon bent on unleashing all the rage of hell when she set her mind to it, when she received the contact from Tony, she did everything in her power (which was quite a lot) to make it known to the public he was still alive, and that he was being held against his will.

SHIELD couldn’t take the PR, they had a team for it, sure, but they weren’t as good as Pepper, they tried to cover it up, give explanations, say he was under medical care, the whole shmoobah, it didn’t hold up to the onslaught.

So they had no choice but to free him.

And while SHIELD had attempted to only release him, Tony wouldn’t have it, he caused so much trouble for them technologically, and PR wise, and then some, they likely released the rest of them out of sheer irritation. But whatever worked. 

 

But that was how they found themselves at Tony’s Mansion (one of them), free of SHIELD, for the moment. The rest of them weren’t sure where else they could go, Clint considered the circus, but it just didn’t feel right anymore, he needed to stay with them. With James.

“This is...big?” Steve offered when they stepped in, looking around in awe. The place really was big, the whole circus could probably make camp in the living room.

“I think the word you’re looking for is gaudy,” James drawled, Clint’s hand was still in his as they looked around, Clint snorted.

“Hey, you mean opulent! I have excellent taste!” Tony shot back.

“Sure, Stark, sure,” James rolled his eyes.

“Tony...you have to tell me what’s going on it’s been nearly two years since you went missing and...I don’t...who are these people?” Pepper Potts asked, an attractive woman but with an air about her that took absolutely no shit, for anyone, and that included her boss, “Where were you? What happened?”

“It’s...kind of a long story,” Tony said with a sigh, “Long story short, I got kidnapped again, shoved in with these guys, we bonded. Can I keep them?” he teased.

Peppe let out a long breath, she turned to look at them all.

“You’re all going to need real clothes to live in,” she said finally, Tony beamed at them, easy to assume that meant she would just try to make it as easy as she could.

“That would be incredibly helpful, thank you Miss Potts,” Steve said sincerely, Pepper seemed to appreciate that, she offered him a small smile. Tony snagged a tablet from her and then tapped away at it for about three minutes then he showed it to Pepper who went wide eyed, but nodded, she took it and then handed it to Steve.

“Just send me a list of your sizes and styles you all like, I can take care of it, and Tony can we...talk for a moment?” she asked her eyebrows furrowed, troubled.

“Ah, can we talk later, we have some other stuff to take care of, but you’ll be my first stop, alright?” Tony replied, Pepper pursed her lips but nodded, and left.

They all agreed and passed it around, it was a simple check list of styles and colors, and looked like Tony had programmed it in those three minutes, they all finished pretty quickly, none of them were all that worried about their clothes, just something to wear was nice, it ended back up with Tony who set it down on the table and then they stood there, looking at each other somewhat awkwardly.

“Now what?” Tony asked.

“Smooth,” Steve sighed, “I...think we can talk more now that we have our angels back, at least.”

“That’s true,” James agreed, he sat down on the couch, Clint more than happily went along with him, plopping down next to him. 

“Aaah...it’s nice to have something different to sit on,” he said and James laughed, nodding in agreement.

“Yeah, you should appreciate that $10,000 Italian Leather couch,” Tony said sitting down too near Clint, ignoring the various looks he got, ranging from wide eyed disbelief and irritation.

“What about Ramiel?” Bruce asked more or less ignoring Tony as he sat down on the couch opposite, “He flew off.”

“Yeah, should we look for him?” Steve asked, frowning in worry, sitting next to Bruce. Natalia took the other side of James.

Clint frowned too, and listened to Uriel for a moment, “No, Ramiel will be able to find us, as long as we stay in the open, and by ‘in the open’ I think he means not wrapped up in stupid white shit material.”

“....fair enough,” James said, “I guess that leaves us at...what now?”

“Oooooh it’s so much better when you say it- hey!” Tony caught the pillow Clint threw at his face for the remark, he pouted like an adult.

“Michael said something about...Ascension, embracing all the power and the angel essence,” Steve replied, “We should maybe focus on that?”

“Yeah...but why?”

“ **_There is a battle coming_ ** ,” Uriel said, only it was in a way everyone could hear, through Clint’s mouth, and with an ethereal quality so the others could hear a difference.

“That’s not creepy,” Tony said, “You can’t do that can you?” he must have been asking Gabriel, but no sassy angel came out of his mouth, “Clint’s just weird, cool, cool.”

“ **_Clint and I are more bound than the rest of you, it is to be expected we can do things many of you can not,_ ** ” Uriel replied, Clint still looked a bit weirded out his mouth was being hijacked. James squeezed his hand.

“Oh...okay, so...what do you mean there is a battle coming?” Steve asked, he and Michael were listening hard, a battle, they would need their wits about them.

“ **_Before I fell...I saw many very worrisome things,_ ** ” Uriel started, “ **_I do not know who is responsible, as I did not have time to look, I only know that who ever it is, wishes to bring about the end to mankind._ ** ”

“Oh, is that all?” James mumbled, his hand gripping Clint’s tightly, Clint returned the squeeze.

“ **_They have recruited demons and fallen angels, with darkened wings as their pawns, we can not let them win, it will not be easy, but thanks to our time locked up, it has given us a small advantage, bonding between us makes us more powerful, it gives us a better chance of success,_ ** ” Uriel urged, and the gathered daevas all shared looks.

“Why doesn’t Daddy dearest give us a hand then, huh?” Tony asked, crossing his arms, and Uriel was about to answer when Tony held up his hand, “Never mind, Gabriel’s got you covered,” he sighed, “Can’t interfere...that seems so cliche,” he muttered, “Whatever...why didn’t you have time to see who done it?”

Clint felt what had to be embarrassment radiating from his angel, “ **_I...I am not infallible…_ ** ” the angel said.

That got an arched eyebrow from all of the others, Uriel sighed.

“ **_I admit my gaze was directed to who had been captured first and upon the discovery…I became distressed and the heavens shook from the great crime it was to lock away an angel...and I fell._ ** ”

“You are telling us you  _ actually _ fell from heaven?” Natalia asked and it seemed she was very amused, Raziel was also amused, but also mentally facepalming. It was not exactly easy to just fall out of heaven. Trust Uriel to be the one to do it.

“ **_...Yes._ ** ”

“But who would you be so focused on-” Bruce asked and then stopped, he looked between Clint and James, “Ah. You fell ten years ago...and James was taken ten years ago, you were watching James.”

“ **_I was...I did not- Adriel was-_ ** ” he was spluttering now and who knew it was possible to make an angel seem so human. 

“Adriel and Uriel sitting in the sky, K-I-S-S- OW,” Tony rubbed his arm where Clint hit him, but he was still grinning.

Clint rolled his eyes, “Be nice to my angel, I can kick your ass.”

“Rude,” Tony huffed, but he was still amused.

“So...I guess now we have to figure out how to...Ascend?” Steve said, “And then we go from there.”

“Good enough for me, I have to go check on my projects, god it’s been two years, aw, my poor bots,” Tony sighed and then looked down at the tablet, he picked it up, and Clint could see Pepper’s face on the screen.

“Oh hell, Miss Potts, how’s clothes shopping coming?” he asked jovially, she didn’t seem to be in a fun mood though.

“I need to talk to you, Tony it’s important,” she insisted, “There are a lot of things that have….happened and I want you to-”

A ding happened somewhere in the house, interrupting her.

“Ah, hold that thought, Potts, think I’ve got a guest, I’ll call you back,” Tony said and hung up against her protests. 

“Tony!” a voice cried out then, coming into the living room, a large man, his arms outstretched, “I thought I’d lost you for good this time!”

Clint turned to look at the man because how he said it, or rather, the feeling he gave off made Clint curious.

“Oh, hey Obie,” Tony said, like it was Saturday afternoon, not two years since he’d seen the man, but he was grinning, he was fond of him, “Been a while. Lost some weight?”

“‘Oh, hey Obie’, you are something else, kid, I was really thinking I’d never see you again this time,” the man stopped at the end of the couch, “Who are your friends?”

“Fellow kidnapees, we bonded,” Tony replied, “Not like they have anywhere else to go, it’s been awhile, so...yeah. They’re staying here for now.”

“Alright,” the other man, Obie, said, “Be careful, I wouldn’t want you disappearing on me again, first time was hard enough, now this one? Honestly, kid.”

“What can ya do? I’m a very likable guy, people get jealous, want me for themselves,” Tony said ignoring the chuckle and snickers from the gathered Daevas.

“Right, well please stay safe, and also try not to push yourself, yeah? I don’t want you to get hurt, make you stay relaxed until we can get a doctor to look at you,” he said, “You make sure he treats you right, alright?” he said to the others then turned around and left.

“He was lying,” Clint said, frowning.

“What?” Tony asked, looking over at him.

“When he said he wouldn’t want you disappearing again, he didn’t want you to get hurt, he was lying, he wants you gone, and hurt,” Clint said and Tony frowned.

“What? No, you’ve got to be kidding, Obie is like my second father, practically raised me,” Tony insisted.

Clint shrugged, “I’m just telling you what I got, he didn’t seem to sincerely care that you were back.”

“Well you need to get your senses checked,” he replied, though his eyes were shrouded with doubt, he shook his head as if to clear it, “Whatever, I’ve got something to show you guys it might help in the whole battle thing. JARVIS, bring up the skem-...JARVIS?” 

The others looked at each other confused, Tony was finally losing it. Meanwhile Tony was looking slightly distressed.

“JARVIS,” Tony barked, “Where the fuck is my AI?” he demanded and then marched out of the room.

“An AI….like...Artificial Intelligence?” Steve asked, watching Tony leave.

“I guess,” James blinked.

“It must be, Tony made an AI while he was in school, I read about it in a science journal, years ago,” Bruce explained, “It was the first self learning AI in existence, by now I’d imagine it’s really quite something.”

“Assuming it’s still around?” James asked, then he looked at where Tony had disappeared to “We should probably go check on him...yeah?”

“...yeah,” Steve said, pressing his lips together for a moment, then he nodded and led the way after Tony.

It took them a minute but they found him, they heard him first actually, the sounds were not all that reassuring.

They came upon Tony in what had to be a lab, the lab had equipment, but not much, it looked like it had been pretty cleared out.

“Tony?” Steve asked and Tony threw a wrench against a wall, most of them jumped, “Tony, what is it?”

“He cleared me out, it had to be Obie, Pepper would never betray me like this even if I was dead, I know she wouldn’t, but Obie…” he slammed his hand down on a table, “And JARVIS…” he gestured to what had to be a large server, “He...dammit, I don’t know what he did…”

“Can you fix him?” Bruce asked, walking forward to Tony and putting a hand on his shoulder, “I can help, if you want.”

Tony took a deep breath, “Yeah...I should be able to...but right now...I want to get back what was taken from me.”

“What was it?” Steve asked.

“Remember that suit I mentioned, Gabriel helped me with it? Well...I kept it down here before I was taken…” Tony replied, “And in the wrong hands…”

“Ah…shit,” Clint agreed, Tony nodded, then looked at him.

“I want you to come with me, since you seem to have build in lie detector powers,” Tony said and Clint nodded then paused.

“You want us to go like this?” he gestured at their scrubs. Tony blinked, surprised as if forgetting they’d just escaped secondary imprisonment.

“Mmm...no, Pepper is probably going to be back really soon, so that should be covered, and actually...I’m starving,” Tony said, “Damn…”

“Oh….” James said, eyes going wide, he was absolutely famished, he hadn’t eaten in ten years, holy shit. “Food….yeah, good plan.”

“Yep, come on, let’s see if the kitchen is stocked.”

 

As it turned out, it was not, Pepper hadn’t had the time to do that yet, but a little extra cash to some of the local delivery places had enough food for everyone there in a timely manner, James ate probably more than he should have but after so long he’d forgotten how much he loved certain foods and just wanted more, the others really didn’t blame him. 

Clint just made sure he didn’t get sick, that would not be a fun experience straight into freedom, he also made sure he drank plenty of water.

“I feel like your mother,” Clint teased and James hummed, some noodles hanging between his lips.

“She woulda slapped me upside the head for all these bad manners, god rest her soul, she’s probably shakin’ her head at me right now,” he grinned and Clint laughed.

“Sounds like a good mom,” Clint said and James nodded in agreement but his mouth was already too full again to speak. Clint snickered.

“You two are so gross,” Natalia said, Clint looked over at her wide eyed, “We had to watch you pine for each other through the glass, and now you’re together and you exude so much adorable it’s really quite disgusting.”

Steve and Tony snorted into their tacos and pasta, Clint went pink, James flipped her off.

“Shove off, Romanov,” he said between bites of chow mein, “We can get as googly-eyed as we want, no need to get jealous.”

Natalia rolled her eyes, “Of course not,” she cooed, “After so long, one can’t blame you for cradle robbing.”   
That got James spluttering and choking, Clint threw a pillow at her.

“You know, technically speaking, I’m older than him,” he huffed, “You’re a menace.”

Natalia only smiled at them sweetly.

They finished eating right as the clothes delivery arrived, Natalia was first off the couch, exclaiming excitedly in Russian as she found hers. 

“Ah, yes, real clothes! How I have missed you,” she sang, the others laughed and got up to get their own.

“You ready to go take on what’s probably my arch nemesis?” Tony asked as they put on jeans, and khakis and tee shirts and button downs, and just started to really feel like themselves again.

“Sure?” Clint replied shrugging, “I dunno how much help I’ll be.”

“Eh, if worse comes to worst just use your laser death glare on him,” Tony replied, shrugging then he gestured for Clint to follow, “See you guys later, don’t break anything!”

“Oh...right…” Clint muttered, the thought making his mood sink a little, James caught his eye and looked concerned, but Clint shook his head, offered a smile and then followed after Tony.

 

Tony had a ridiculous amount of cars (though apparently there had been more, and some were missing, cue more anger), they got in one and drove out of the garage only to be stopped by security, after much talk and Tony finally threatening to fire them if they didn’t move they were off, Clint was terrified for his life for about twenty minutes before they parked in front of-

“ _ STANE  _ Industries?!” 

“Well...if you didn’t think he was an asshole before now…”

“Dammit! Pepper tried to tell me, and I- dammit!” Tony smacked his hands against the steering wheel, he took a deep breath and pulled out a phone, one Clint did not remember him grabbing, was the man producing technology out of thin air?

He started typing away on his phone, frowning more and more as he got all the information, “God dammit,” he whispered, “He went back into weapons manufacturing, and is selling my inventions under his name, dammit, dammit, dammit!” 

“Hey,” Clint said gently, putting his hand over the phone screen, “You’re going to put a stop to that now, aren’t you?” 

Tony took a deep breath and let it out slowly, he nodded, “Right...let’s go,” he agreed, they parked right in front, and well Clint supposed that was alright, considering it was supposed to be Tony’s company. But he’d worry about that later.

Clint followed Tony as close as he could, there was much chatter and surprise by the people working when Tony came marching in, he was probably a sight for sore eyes, back from a kidnapping again, and on the warpath.

Tony was not going to stop though, not until they were up in Stane’s office, Tony threw the doors open, making those inside jump.

“Oh did I interrupt?” Tony asked, he was smiling, it was not a nice smile and the men in the room looked highly uncomfortable, “My bad, I just thought I’d stop by...see how things were since I left, you know...stocks and marketing, production...R&D,” he crossed his arms, “Where the hell are my suits, Obadiah?”

“Tony,” the other man said, as the other suits scurried from the room, “I was just trying to be practical, you were gone for so long, I was starting to lose hope and-”

“You stole my stuff, you know damn well those were in my private lab, meaning they were meant to stay private,” he said crossing his arms and glaring.

“Tony, come on kid, they were the last thing I had of you, you can’t be angry that I was trying to keep you alive by sharing your last gift with everyone else,” he said face looking sincere.

“Well...I’ll give him credit, he is good, not good enough though,” Clint muttered, Tony snorted.

Stane frowned, “I’m sorry who are you?”

“Living Lie Detector,” Clint said promptly, Tony snorted again, this one more amused, and Clint was glad for that, he didn’t want him to totally burst.

“What?” Stane frowned in confusion, Tony waved his hands.

“He’s here for me, and I want to know some things Obie, we’ve known each other for awhile, couple decades really, and you’ve been sooo good to me, it makes me wonder, why?” he tapped his chin, “I had time to think...it must have been nice banking on all those illegally sold weapons, and then...what? You didn’t think my troublesome self was worth the pay anymore? You wanted me dead?”

“Tony what are you getting at, I-?”

“The kidnappers in Afghanistan, you paid them to take me, and when I broke out, oooh you weren’t expecting that, and then, oh then I decided to stop making weapons, I bet you hated that,” Tony marched forward and slapped his hands on the table, “And then I was taken again, you took your chance and stole everything, including my suit. I didn’t see any new tech taken from it, too hard for you? Good. But tell me one thing…” 

“Tony, I don’t-” 

“Did you kill my parents? Were you responsible for their deaths?” 

There was a stunned silence at that from both Clint and Stane.

“Tony, you’re over reacting this isn’t what-”

“Tell me! Yes or no?” Tony hissed leaning forward, he was burning with his anger, his intense need to know the truth.

“Tony, I loved your parents, why would I-?”

“Yes. Or. No?”

“Tony-” Tony snarled and the man took a deep breath, “No, of course not.”

Tony looked at Clint, who of course knew that it was a lie. He looked Tony in the eyes and conveyed that as well as he could. 

Tony looked back around, “Consider this your pink slip, you’re definitely fired.”

“You can’t fire me! I’m the biggest stock holder, it’s my company now! I-” he was cut off as suddenly the wall to their right burst open and gleaming silver metallic plates came flying out of the wall, they rearranged themselves around Tony, forming what had to be his suit, it looked like armor. It was pretty freaking awesome.

After that it didn’t really take long for Obadiah to give up his claim to the company, Tony was able to call in the police and he was taken away. It was fairly anticlimactic really, but it worked.

Tony had to do a lot of stuff now the Obadiah was gone, he had to get the name back to his, and there was so much paperwork, it looked like Tony might cry, or put his fancy suit back on and fly away.

Clint was looking out the window, because wow! That view! Uriel seemed to appreciate it as well, he was used to being on top of the world and seeing all, this wasn’t quite that, but it was still nice. 

Tony was trying to decide if drinking before noon would be held against him later when Pepper came into the office.

“Mr. Stark,” she said wary.

“Miss Potts?” Tony replied blinking, and frowning in confusion.

“I tried to warn you, I’m sorry I-” she stopped when Tony held up his hand.

“You did, and you have my wholehearted appreciation, Miss Potts for doing everything you have for the past two years to keep the company from spontaneous combustion,” he said, “Thank you.”

Pepper was momentarily speechless, then gathered her wits and offered a smile, “Of course, Mr. Stark. What can I do to help make things right?”

He smiled, “Quite a lot, come here if you could,” he waved her over with a pen in hand, “I need you to sign these, here here aaaand here.”

Pepper came over and took the pen, but there was a moment as she read, then she looked up in surprise, “You want to name me CEO?” 

“Yeah, even though I was gone...you were still here, playing for my team,” Tony said, “And honestly...I have other things I’d rather focus, inventing, and getting reacquainted with life after captivity, you know, I trust you.”

Before Pepper could reply, white light suddenly engulfed Tony, embracing him in a warm bright cocoon of light, it only lasted a few seconds and the moment it dispersed Tony was different.

The most noticeable difference was that he had wings.

“Well...I guess that’s one way to Ascend,” Clint replied, blinking in wonder, Tony also looked, better in general, standing up straighter, more confidence, and really, it was a good look for him.

Tony looked at him in awe, “Apparently so,”  he replied and then let out a soft laugh, “It’s like Gabriel and I are the same person now, his thoughts...well oooh that’s a good idea, oh and that too and-”

“Tony?” Pepper said tentatively.

“Ah! Pepper, yes, sorry, well I want you to be the CEO because well...I have other things to do...like learn how to fly with wings, and-” he paused as if counting in his head, “About three thousand other things, and you’re better at it than I am anyway, and there really is not a single person more suited to it than you. Please, it would be a huge favor to me.”

“Y-yes but the…” she gestured at the large white wings that really made the large office seem quite small.

“Oh...ah...that...mmm...Clint?” He beamed at the other man who snorted.

“You’re on your own man, I don’t know her that well,” he said with a laugh, “Sorry,” he offered Pepper.

“Okay, long story short, I was rescued by an angel in Afghanistan, then I was kidnapped because of me- him, I have his memories now, this is weird, and good lord you better Ascend fast, mister you are in for an earful.”

“Yeah, I’ll get right on that,” he replied, “Finish talking to Pepper.”

“Right, then we all met, we’re all angels by the way, and we were rescued, almost detained again but you saved the day again, and now we have to go save the world or something,” Tony finished leaving Pepper gaping.

“Classy,” Clint remarked, shaking his head, that poor woman.

Pepper regained her composure and then nodded, “Alright, I’ll do it but I expect-”

“A raise, a few extra pairs of Jimmy Choos and a better office?” Tony offered, a grin threatening his straight lips.

Pepper couldn’t hold it and smiled, “At least.”

“You got it,” he said and stepped forward and pressed his lips to her forehead, “Hey! I’m taller.”

“Oh my god,” Clint burst into laughter, “Come on you nut case, let’s go show the others,” he waved him on to the doors.

“Right,” Tony agreed and followed after but stopped, “Ah...Clint?”

“Hmm?”

“I might need help,” Tony said awkwardly.

Clint turned around to see Tony stuck in the doorway, unable to maneuver through with his new wings, Clint promptly burst into laughter, but did eventually help him through.

 

Back at the mansion the others were amazed at Tony’s transformation, hopefully it meant Ascension was on the horizon for all of them and very soon, that way they would be more prepared for the battle to come.

“He got caught in the door,” Clint announced the moment they came into the Mansion, “Twice.”

“Snitch,” Tony grumbled, but nothing could dull Clint’s grin.

“Tony!” Steve shouted, “You Ascended?!”

“So it would seem,” Tony deadpanned, “Yeah, it’s...interesting.”

“I bet, how did you do it?” Steve asked and Tony frowned.

“Well...I was just...really proud of Pepper and what she did for me, and was glad my inventions were in safe hands, and really what more could I want, and Gabriel just agreed and...poof. We’re now...us?”

“You’re...you?” Natalia asked, an eyebrow arched in question.

“We’re the same person now...it...kind of makes me wonder...you think I should just be ‘Gabriel’? Ramiel never told us his other name because he wasn’t the...other person? Who he was before he Ascended right?”

“I suppose, but...I think you’re still Tony,” Bruce said, “Ramiel gave off a slight...otherworldy tone when he spoke, but we don’t know if he didn’t already do that.”

“Yeah...true, he could be from somewhere else, I mean Natalia you’ve got a bit of a tone too. Accent. It- the Ascension is kind of like making us one person, all of his memories are now mine, and vice versa, maybe Ramiel is what we are in...who knows how many years?” Tony replied, shrugging, “I’m not worried, because somehow I know I’ll still be me...but...not? Or rather me, but more, Gabriel is me and we are Tony, so it’s nothing to worry about. Does that make any sense?”

“No,” Clint and James replied in unison from where they’d joined up again on the couch, maybe snuggling a little bit, just a little.

Tony rolled his eyes at them, “Well...I’m sure you’ll get it when you guys do your things, now...if you’ll excuse me...I have some ideas I want to get out, oh and I have an AI to fix, and improve.”

“Sure…” James said, then looked over at Bruce who nodded.

“Do you still need help?” the other scientist asked.

“Probably not I’m smarter than before, but tag along anyway, I still want to pick your brain,” Tony replied, oblivious to the looks he got as he walked away, “I also need to practice this wing thing, sheesh it’s not easy.”

Bruce sighed and got up to follow, because really, who knew one could be so egotistical.

“Good luck!” Clint called after him, he waved in thanks and then Tony’s technobabble rapid fire voice gradually faded as they went down to his lab.

“So...Tony Ascended first, surprised by that, and it was… Well, how it happened...I’m kind of confused how that works,” Clint admitted, “He was talking to Pepper, and saying how he trusted her, and then there was all this light and viola, wings.”

“Huh...maybe because he trusted her?” James offered, “Maybe that’s what we need to do? I don’t think any of us are big on the trust thing just now.”

“No, probably not,” Clint agreed, how could they really? 

“No,” Natalia said, but her tone suggested she wasn’t actually agreeing with them, “I think it was something else.”

“Oh?”

“Well...something about his inventions, if he trusted her with those, I think it makes more sense, after all Gabriel is the Angel of Invention, and inventions are meant to be used, but for good, and he trusted her to use them as intended.”

“That makes a lot of sense, so...our Ascensions are related to our Angels...okay, so…”

“We need to figure out what our...Angel is meant for? I mean, Ramiel told us what we were before, but I never thought about it until now, so we need to connect to them on their level?” Steve suggested, thinking aloud.

“I think so,” Natalia said, “I don’t think it should be too hard, Raziel just said she wouldn’t tell me how because that would ruin the whole point,” she said, “I think I recall something about secrets…” she grinned as her angel obviously was saying something warranting amusement.

“Nice,” Clint drawled, “Uriel won’t tell me either, he says I already know, he also says that we’re on the right track but that’s not necessarily the only way to Ascend.”

“More than one way makes it easier, right?” James shrugged, “That’s good, hopefully we get it done fast and then have more time to train before we have to fight.”

“Exactly that, I think we should start now, it might help us later,” Steve insisted, “If we know how to fight shouldn’t it expand on what our angels already know?”

“Probably, in that case, I’m good,” Clint grinned, “I don’t miss, remember?” 

“You should still train,” Steve frowned at him, “It’s important to remain vigilant, and at the top of your game for whatever is coming. We also need to train together, know each other’s strengths and weaknesses, to know how to cover each others back, we’re in this together and we have to stick together and-”

“Steve!” James barked making the other man’s mouth snap shut, “Calm down, Clint is just messing with you.”

“Mostly,” Clint replied, grinning, “But yeah, we’ll train, you know assuming we can drag Tony away from the lab, but it really is a good idea.”

“Yeah, you think we should have a routine? Cause, I kind of like eating, I think I should do more of it,” James said, and Clint laughed, bumping his shoulder.

“Obviously, we can train and eat together, like real soldiers!” he said, “I actually thought about joining the army for a little while.”

“Boys, there must be time for other things as well, we can not simply bond over just food and punching,” Natalia tsked.

“Says who?” James asked play frowning, “It worked the first time, hey Steve you’re the boss when it comes to military stuff I think you made it to a higher rank than me, what- Steve?”

Steve was smiling at them and then he was glowing.

“Wow...two in one day,” Clint muttered watching as Steve too was embraced with light and when finished had two very large wings attached to his back.

“Ah…” Steve said, peeking over his shoulder, “Okay then.”

“What were you thinking when it happened?” Natalia asked, her eyes wide.

“Well...I was just...so proud of you guys, for your loyalty, and thoughts. We are a team,” he smiled, “We’ll go into battle fighting strong and come out together.”

“Definitely,” James agreed then stood up, “Now let me touch ‘em I wanna see what they feel like.” He wiggled his fingers at the other man who blustered and spent a good few minutes trying to flee from James while Clint and Natalia were busy laughing at them.

Overall, it was a good day.

 

Over the next week almost all of them found what they needed to to Ascend, for Bruce it was some kind of inner calm, a peace that he could be content and actually enjoy spending time with the others to enjoy that peace, it was very cryptic in a philosophical way. Natalia Ascended only two days later, and she wouldn’t tell them how.

“Angel of Secrets, what do you expect?” 

She was very smirky, and her wings were different from the others, they were slimmer, and allowed her to fly much faster than the rest of them, which was really very awesome...for her.

That left Clint and James to Ascend.

However, despite them both being involved in all of Steve’s group activities, the others seemed to think their lack of Ascension was due to them spending all of their waking (and sleeping) hours together. 

It was true that Clint and James were nearly inseparable, except for that short time Clint had been with Tony, they were attached at the hip, they did everything together, from cooking to loudly criticizing bad movies, they sparred together and slept together, wrapped up tight like the very thought of separation was painful. After having been inches away from each other for so long, they couldn’t get enough of touching each other.

However all they did was cuddle. The furthest they ever got to anything more was kissing, and those were innocent too. They held hands and bumped shoulders, snuggled and wrapped arms around each other.

The others would consider it far too cutesy for them, if they didn’t understand where they were coming from, honestly they all found themselves being okay with touching excessively, and it was never sexual, just touching felt so good after being on the other side of glass, alone, for so long.

But because of Clint and James being so wrapped up in each other, it seemed they weren’t focusing on what possibly could be what triggered their Ascension.

The two didn’t want to think so, but it was quite possible, so they tried to be a bit more independent, to hang with the others, to get out and interact with the world, but there was still no change.

Until one night, James was thinking, curled up around Clint as he was sleeping, he was just considering, in the battle to come, he didn’t want anything to happen to Clint, he would do all he could, everything in his power to keep him safe. Anything to make sure that he came out alive.

“ **_Anything?_ ** ” Adriel asked softly in the back of his mind.

James blinked and thought about it, visions of all possible outcomes, including destruction (of all manner of things, including their relationship) and death of himself, and the others. And while James was completely loyal to them, who knew what would happen, in the end, battles were not simple occurrences, but at the end of it, he just wanted Clint to be safe.

“Anything,” he agreed, and then he felt warmth embrace him and he was no longer just himself, he was Adriel too, he understood what the others meant now. He was still at the forefront, Adriel’s memories just slotting into his own, he was all there, but now...now he was more.

And also his wing hurt.

“Ack...shit, Clint!” he shoved at the sleeping blond gently, “Clint! Come on you’re on my wing!”

“Nnggg...wha...coffee? S’ too early...” Clint grumbled sleepily into James’ chest then his brain caught up and he sat up quickly to stare at James and his wings, “Holy shit!”

“Aaah,” James tested his ability to control it, stretching it out to get the kinks out and the Clint shaped impression in the feathers all straightened out.

“Holy...wow,” Clint whispered, “...did you Ascend with me sleeping on you?” 

“...yep,” James said, for some reason a little too embarrassed to admit he’d Ascended because of Clint, or really because of his feelings for Clint, “It was...you know...just,” he made hand motions randomly and Clint laughed, he didn’t really mind the lack of explanation, he was simply happy for him. He leaned forward and hugged him tightly, conscious of his new wings.

“That’s so amazing, I’m so glad, aaah but now I’m the last one...I hope I’m not broken…” he frowned, James rolled his eyes.

“You are not broken, dummy,” he said gently, putting his fingers under Clint’s chin, the white Enochian in his skin giving off the softest of glows, he hadn’t realized, that must have come from Ascension, it was now more beautiful than before.

“Yeah...Uriel got offended by that,” Clint agreed with a small apologetic grin, “But still there’s gotta be some reason I’m not…”

“You’ll get there, you just have to figure out your reason,” James replied, it was hard to explain honestly how and why one Ascended, but when it happened it really made perfect sense.

Clint sighed and slumped against him, “Yeah...you’re right…but...still, the others are gonna tease me.”

“Of course, what else are they good for?” James teased and Clint laughed.

“Right,” he nuzzled James’ neck, eyes closed, enjoying the feel of their closeness, flesh on flesh, not flesh on smooth glass. The feeling of his chest expanding with each breath, the slight stickiness from sweat, Clint adored it all.

“Hey…how are we gonna sleep when we  _ both _ have wings?” Clint asked and James laughed.

“We’ll figure it out,” he promised, “But for now, you can just sleep on me,” he said and Clint beamed, more than willing to do so, he draped himself over the other man and quickly went back to sleep with the feeling of fingers threading through his hair.

 

About a week later, Clint was beyond frustrated. He still hadn’t Ascended, and it was utterly terrible to be on the roof of the mansion and watch the others fly around as they trained in the sky. Something they all thought he should witness, including him, he’d be able to keep up as well as possible without being actually involved.

He really didn’t know how he was supposed to do this, he tried talking to Uriel about it but the Angel was pretty mum on the whole thing, only saying that it would be harder for him simply because they were already more entwined than the others had been.

That wasn’t all that reassuring in the long run, it just meant he would be out of the training with the others for longer and they’d all have to work harder to include him once all was said and done.

Clint had bugged the others, trying to get them to give him details as to what it was that made them Ascend, but none of them could give him clear answers, not out of malice, it was just hard to explain. 

Clint became contemplative then, because there had to be a connection between what they were doing to their angels, and why it was that moment that they Ascended. 

For Tony, he’d trusted someone with his inventions, to use it with clarity and true intentions, as the Angel of Invention, that made sense.

For Bruce he’d found the peace that came with accepting what and who he was, (so he said), but there had to be more of it, he was the Angel of Death. There was peace in death, perhaps that was it, actually that had to be it, it was too poetic not to be.

Natasha still wouldn’t tell him, and Clint was pretty sure that was just as helpful, seeing as she was the Angel of Secrets. He needed to figure it out on his own, so she was keeping the secret to herself.

Steve had discovered his sense of purpose and pride in leading them all to becoming a team, and seeing as he was the Angel of Military and the military was like one big team, there it was.

And James, he’d said he’d just accepted what he was capable of doing, but there were no details, which was unfair, he was the Angel of Destruction, so...it had to do with that somehow.

And now Clint, he needed to do something with all he knew, correct? Wait knew… Uriel was something...some knowledge! Ha, of course he was the Angel of Knowledge. Clint felt a little dumb to finally remember it, ironic really, because he knew he knew, but he forgot.

“Cool do I Ascend now?” he asked his angel who laughed.

“ **_Not quite,_ ** ” Uriel said adding the endearment again, “ **_You are getting closer, but there is a bit more to it than that._ ** ”

“Boo,” Clint sighed and flopped on his back looking up at the sky, the others flitting in and out of his line of vision, “Alright alright, suppose it’s not suppose to be easy, I get that...but just why is it taking me the longest?”

“ **_You have known of me the shortest amount of time, so in a sense, you would still be faster than the others_ ** ,” Uriel replied, amused.

Clint snickered, “Truuuuuuue, okay,” he gazed up, unseeing but still taking in the soft blue, the white clouds, the others flying about, all in the vastness of the sky.

It was such a limitless world out there, to know everything was impossible for just one being, but there was one thing he’d always wanted to know, always and that was what it felt like to be loved.

James came into view just then and Clint smiled, he couldn’t help it, he always did when he saw the other man. It was strange to think that being stuck in the same cage right next to each other would give them such a connection, but Clint did love him. He loved him so much, it was a wonder to him that some didn’t know what it was like to feel loved and to love another in return. To feel that bursting in one’s chest, that warmth in your body at the thought of them, to think there were those who didn’t know was very sad, but at the same time made sense.

He wished he could share that knowledge with others, but he knew that wasn’t possible, people needed to learn on their own, in their own time.

Including him, he would learn in his own time, and gosh. He loved James, didn’t he? He really really did, he knew that for a fact, and he knew he did.

He laughed softly because was it really so simple?

He felt himself being wrapped in a warm embrace, light wrapped around him in a gentle cocoon lifting him, and then he was standing on the roof again, and the others were looking at him a bit wide eyed. It must have taken him a moment to Ascend if they all had time to fly down and stare open mouthed at him.

“What?” he asked, “Do I have two heads now?” Which was silly, he knew that wouldn’t be the case now that he was Uriel. But it was funny to think about.

“No, but...you had like six wings,” Tony told him, “It’s kind of wild to see up close- though now you just have two.”

“Not actual, they were made of the light,” Steve clarified, “Clearly symbolic.”

“Oh, yeah...six wings, Seraphim,” Clint shrugged, “I knew that, cause the rest of you are Archangels, Achrons and Natalia is an Urim.”

“Riiiight, you’re a weirdo, I forget,” Tony drawled, Clint jumped up into the air.

“A weirdo who can outfly you, wing shoes,” Clint replied, smirking.

“Oh my- that was one century! And Hermes stole it from me!” Tony jumped up in the air after him, leaving the others laughing and then jumping up to join them.

James flew up to Clint in the sky, their wings flapping in tandem, “Hey...finally figured it out, huh?”

“Yeah,” Clint smiled taking James’ hand, “You helped.”

“Oh...I did?” he asked back and Clint hummed, leaning forward for a chaste kiss.

“Mhmmm.”

“How’s that?” James asked softly.

“I’ll tell you….but first, you have to catch me!” Clint cried and then shot off into a random direction, James burst into laughter.

“Hey that’s not fair! You have two extra sets of wings!” he chased after him anyway, because who knew if they would get the chance to really be this free and have fun like this again.

 

They trained, and it was like they were already a team, Clint had been taking everything in when he watched too, when he was finally there, he’d just slotted in with them perfectly. It was like they’d been doing this forever, which truthfully, they had, the memories of their past lives as Angels through millennia made it so bonding and working together was smooth, like oil in water. 

Clint had the best eyesight and could clearly see things farther away than all of them combined, and he sort of knew what was happening all around them at all times to an extent, which was helpful. He could only focus on things so much at one time. But he could still see many things at once and catalogue it in his head as he did.

Tony had created robots to help them, to be their enemies while they trained, they were upgraded and different each time. He was also in the middle of making many many more things, which he was currently keeping secret, so clearly, Natalia knew everything and was very smug about it.

Steve lead them true, every call and instruction confident, he was also one skilled fighter, easy to understand why he was the General of all of Heaven’s Army. His tactical mind was unparalleled, and when matched with Clint’s knowledge of a battlefield, they made a pretty unbeatable team.

Natalia was more of a background type, she could fly faster than all of them, and did amazing feats of twisting her body at the last second for surprise strike attacks, but her skills of secrecy put her easily behind the lines to take enemies down from the inside.

Bruce was holding back, he could potentially rain death on every single thing he touched, but he withheld it for if there was one thing that was unstoppable, it was death, if he unleashed it without something to stop him, he could potentially kill all within his sight. 

And James, he had a handy ability of tearing things apart barehanded, but he was also still a very skilled shot the only person better was Clint, he was also very skilled at hand to hand, watching Steve and James spar was a sight to behold. 

Honestly, for whatever was coming, and something was coming, they all could sense it, they were as prepared as they could be.

 

They were doing well in their training, very well, their confidence strong and their hearts soaring in their comradery. Of course, that was when Ramiel found them while he was  _ not _ doing well.

“Ramiel!”

The others looked up at the shout from Natalia, they were sat around the living room, Clint and James all snuggled up on the loveseat, wings folded tight, feathers touching, murmuring softly, Tony messing with a few of his inventions, Steve working out battle plans, Bruce working out some equation for Tony, and Natalia, closest to the window had been reading a book, it was a normal after practice rest, but at the shout they were all racing to the balcony where their final friend had more or less crash landed.

They scrambled to get out to him their wings making it difficult, as it was hard to get through doors, “Ramiel, what happened?” Steve asked while Bruce and James helped him stand and ushered him into the house and to a seat, “Were you attacked? Where have you been?” 

They had been wondering, and Clint, when trying to ‘see’ him, knew he was alive, but apart from that, knew nothing, which left them all in a state of worry.

“Aye, my friend,” Ramiel said voice low and tired, “When I left- and I was hoping to see about saving you, but I saw on the news you had it well in hand- after that I thought I might look into things, to save us all the effort, to see who our enemy would be in the final battle…”

Natalia had gone over to the kitchen and returned with a wet cloth to start wiping the dirt and dried blood from Ramiel’s face and arms, he wasn’t terribly injured but there were a few bad scratches here and there, “Is it bad?”

“Aye…” Ramiel whispered, “Our first captors...their stealing of our blood was to create soldiers...like us,” he whispered, “There are other versions of us in the world it is…” he shook his head, “Sickening, they have our abilities, but they are...dark, not right, weaker, abominations...and I do not use that word lightly, it is obvious even to themselves, they know they are not right, but they fight at will of the darkness of Hell, and they will fight for the hope of salvation.”

“What can we do?” Clint asked, he didn’t like the idea that those who they would be fighting were suffering.

“They are not alone, they are followed by a legion of demons, raised from Hell to deter us as the ones controlling them attempt to find a way to bring Heaven to Earth,” Ramiel said shaking his head, what else was to be expected of those who had been warped and tortured by the flames of Hell, “It is madness! If Heaven and Earth are on the same plane so too shall Hell, and that would be the end of All. Apocalypse. We must prevent it, at all costs.”

“Alright...but where are they going to attack, I mean they can’t just...suddenly attack everywhere right?” Tony asked, “Where are they going?”

“Ah, yes...there is a Gate, accessible on Earth to Heaven, however it was hidden for millennia until recently, when they discovered the use of the white cloth, they also discovered how to locate areas with high concentrations of heavenly energy something which is nearly impossible to control, but they discovered a way to use it against us and that was how we were trapped in those cells for so long, and then their experiments to create us, was I assume, because they knew we would never open the Gate and therefore intend for one of our copies to do so. We must prevent them from getting to the Gate, and if that fails, at all costs we must prevent them from opening it.”

“Aaaah,” Clint hummed, “So there is a method to their madness. If they open the gate to Heaven then they get in and wreck havoc and we all basically are screwed, so we have to do what we can to stop it, right?”

“Correct.”

“Where is the Gate?” Bruce asked, “Exactly?”

“It just so happens to be under us, my friend, if Tony were to dig a hole in his basement, we could access it,” Ramiel replied, “The battle will take place here, I am sure very soon.”

“Great, my poor house,” Tony sighed, “Whatever, so...are we doing this? We do have a choice, we always do.” 

The others looked at each other, “You’re right, but that’s what we’re here for,” James said, “We had to come down for a purpose. This is it.”

“Unless you’re Uriel and you fall because you’re making googly eyes at Adriel,” Tony said matter of factly.

Clint flipped him off, “You would have been upset too if you saw what I did,” he replied evenly, watching Adriel get captured by the ones doing this had really been distressing, “Now...what’s the plan?”

 

The plan was simple in theory, but complicated in practice.

Clint, while being perhaps the best to take the first shots, was instead kept back and at the highest point possible up in some clouds unseen by everyone, so he could call out actions to the others, and with Tony’s handy dandy new comms system that cut down on wind and wing flapping feedback, they were able to comfortably communicate.

And then Ramiel, who had healed quickly (angelic healing was awesome), would be beyond the rest of them, waiting, ready to call down the lightning he could control at the right moment to take out as many of the demons as possible in one go as they passed him, to make the rest of the battle less complicated, hopefully.

James, Steve and Tony would be the ‘front lines’, unleashing all of their skills and power on the onslaught of demons.

Bruce, was back up, he didn’t really want to have to unleash all of what he was capable of unless he really had to, they all knew it would likely come to that, but they all hoped, for his sake and their own, they wouldn’t.

Natalia would be hidden, she was going to attempt to find out their plan of attack by sneaking behind the lines to wherever they had their base set up, as the humans who’d been dragged into this likely would.

The plan from there was pretty easy, after Ramiel zapped them, Steve, James and Tony would start the battle, hopefully to lure out their doppelgangers so they could do what need be, and that was take them out. They hoped this would be enough, but none of them were ignorant enough to think it would go the way they planned.

The fun part of all of this, of course, was Tony had made them all new toys, also improving his own suit beyond making room for his wings. Clint had been handed a bow that was ridiculous in the best way, it was heavy and large, and gorgeous, it was like metal and wood fused together, there were little wings carved at the ends, both as decorations and as notches so he could change the tension of the bow, and then the arrows, he could produce his own arrows made of light, but Tony had made him a plethora of various ones with different tips for different purposes, it was pretty awesome. Clint had a feeling he’d use the exploding ones the most.

Steve had requested something more geared to defense, and Tony produced a shield, it was round and balanced in a way that made it defy physics, Steve loved it, it also had an edging of heavenly light that would be effective towards anything demonic.

James was pretty happy with anything as he was skilled at anything, and Tony made him an arsenal of guns and knives, all with a heavenly twist, the great thing about them was that they wouldn’t hurt humans, only demons, that was true for everything, he was proud of that fact.

Bruce had opted out, saying he really had no need for anything when technically his whole being was a weapon.

Natalia had gotten some gloves that produced a zap that would paralyze anything that came into contact with it, and some knives and a few guns like James’. She appreciated the versatility.

Ramiel was pretty set with his lightning and physical prowess, but Tony made him large hammer that he could use to batter the demons around anyway, he sort of figured they guy could put his massive muscles to use in other ways that were more elegant than punching.

And thanks to their angelic stations they each had their own armor they were able to ‘summon’, which Tony had actually created for them centuries ago, he may have only upgraded them a little now, but for the most part the designs were the same as they had been from back then.

Shoulder guards, arm guards, chest plates, the whole nine yards, all made of a heavenly steel that there was no word for in any language but Enochian. 

And each of them had their own color scheme, on top of the silver metal there was purple accenting for Clint, and then a red, white and blue design for Steve’s very light silver armor, James had crimson and a bit of dark blue on top of his much darker silver armor, Natasha’s was mostly red, her armor was a lot more sleek, meant for stealth, it was also a much darker grey armor, rather than silver, so it didn’t reflect light, but it was easily complementary to the others. Bruce had some as well, but he didn’t think it really did anything for him, his accent was a green that seemed to glow eerily under the silver plating. Tony, being the ostentatious bastard he was made his own suit and armor gold and red. Ramiel’s was a dark blue and a darker silver with a few hints of burgandy. 

They were as prepared in that manner as they possibly could be.

They trained more, with Ramiel there, it was set, they could be an unstoppable force, the seven of them, working perfectly in sync and reading each other's movements and actions with ease, they were ready.

And they had to be, for only a day later, darkness descended upon them.

 

The horizon was glowing with a blood red, clouds black full of raging storms to block them from the light of heaven. The moment they knew, they prepared themselves. 

Everyone was standing around getting prepared, making sure everything was working before they would go to their posts.

James grabbed Clint’s shoulder as he was checking his bow, then gestured with his head for him to follow behind him.

Clint got up and did so, a little relieved. In the weeks following his Ascension, he and James had barely gotten any time to be together, as it so happened, Angels didn’t really have to sleep much, so their cuddling only happened during moments of rest or when they were doing group bonding activities, which involved all the others too, not that they didn’t like that, they just wished they’d had more time to themselves too.

This was possibly the first moment they’d been alone in weeks.

“Hey,” Clint said and James smiled at him, Clint felt his heart flutter. 

“Hey,” he replied, his hand reached out to cup at Clint’s cheek, “We’ve been so busy we haven’t gone out for coffee yet.”

Clint laughed and put his hand over James’, “You’re right, damn, and Tony’s fancy coffee machine just isn’t the same,” he said, he let out a soft breath and closed his eyes, “You think we’ll make it?” he whispered.

James took up the remaining space separating them and wrapped his arms tight around Clint, “I will do everything within my power to make sure of it,” he promised, and though he truly meant to make sure Clint made it. He would do anything.

Clint let out a huff, “You’re so dramatic,” he said, burying his face in the other angel’s chest, his own arms wrapped around him tightly, “First thing we do when this is all over...we get that damn cup of coffee...promise?”

“Promise,” James said kissing his head and squeezing him tightly in a hug, watching his wings flutter, “There is so much more I want to do with you, I...we will do what must be done and hope that in the end, we may do what we wish.”

Clint nodded against his chest, he didn’t want to let go, he desperately just wanted to stay embraced in James’ arms despite the storm clouds threatening in the sky bringing darkness and doom, and that alone was likely to bring the deep dark that would allow many of the demons to be more powerful, they would need to bring the light back.

The fight would be long and hard, brutal and tiresome, but it was what they were here for, to save the world from the end. They had to, or all would be pointless.

“Clint, James, it’s time!” Steve called from the other room.

The two separated and gazed at one another for one more moment, “Be safe,” Clint said and James smiled, then pecked him on the lips.

“You too,” he started to turn but Clint stopped him and then paused for just a moment, James’ eyebrows were up in question, Clint decided ‘to hell with it!’ and then pulled James in for the most intense kiss they’d shared yet, hard, desperate and full of more emotion than he thought he was capable of sharing, but it was all there, it only took a second for James to respond. Too soon they were pulling apart, both slightly panting, Clint gripped his arms tightly.

“I love you,” he declared softly but firmly, James eyes widened, but he knew, he always had.

“I love you too,” he returned just as softly but sincere. Clint smiled and then with one more squeeze to the arm, he let go and turned.

There were more important things than the two of them, and they needed to focus.

Steve saw them come in together but didn’t say anything, “Ready?”

Clint nodded, picking up his bow, “Ready.”

James attached all of the weapons he could to his armor, “Ready,” he replied to Steve, twirling a knife in his hand then sticking it in his boot.

Steve offered them a crooked smile, “Good, alright everyone, you know the plan, keep your comms on at all times, let’s do this.”

“Time to save the world,” Tony agreed.

“Clint,” Steve looked over at him and he nodded, then walked out to the balcony, spread his wings and then shot up into the sky where he would be hidden amongst clouds to watch the proceedings.

Ramiel and Natalia headed out as well, flying low and swiftly to where they would hide until they were sure they could carry out their tasks.

James, Tony and Steve also took off going to fly over a large empty span of fields that Tony had bought and modified secretly to put them full of traps that would hopefully take care of more of the demons. He’s made traps all around the house, and robots that would fight too, but they were only secondary defensive measures, the rest was up to them.

Bruce meanwhile stayed behind in the mansion, at the ready if he was given the signal to attack.

“In position,” Clint said he was well hidden in the clouds and could still see, Heaven’s powers were really quite useful, he could see all of the others, and now, he could also see the blackness that was creeping along the earth towards them like an inky monster slowly overtaking everything, “Hope you guys are ready to get dirty.”

“How far out are they?” Steve asked, the comm working just as good as it had in practice.

“Three miles,” Clint answered, “If you really want specifics: three miles, twenty feet, seven inches and-”

“Yeaaah we get it,” Tony interrupted, “Can you give us a number?”

“Ah….no,” Clint frowned, “It’s...it’s like they’re multiplying with every move, and then some are combining to be bigger, and I can’t accurately get a number because they all just come across as ‘evil dark and doom’.” 

“A simple ‘no’ would have been sufficed,” Steve replied and Clint pouted.

“I am stuck in the clouds and will be for however long, I will get bored, and you know Tony would have asked why,” he huffed.

“He does have a point,” Tony replied.

“Fine, just keep it together, we do not need to lose it before the battle starts,” Steve said firmly.

“Who’s losing it?” James asked, putting on a jaunty tone, “This is going to be fun, you should loosen up.”

“James.”

“Steve,” James drawled back, “We’ll do this together, we will make it, we have the world to save after all, we’ve got this.”

“Yeah, don’t worry, I’ve got your backs, nothing gets past me,” Clint reassured, “We’ll send those assholes straight back to Hell.”

“Right,” Steve sighed, he knew he wasn’t going to get them to be completely serious, it wasn’t in their nature, “Just keep your heads on straight.”

“Aye, aye captain,” James drawled, Clint snickered, though quited after a second.

“Here they come, they’re coming in fast and malicious. Ramiel if there- wait…”

“Clint don’t do dramatic pauses, it’s really not helpful,” Tony groaned.

“Sorry, there’s just this massive wave coming at us-”

“Reassuring.”

“-and if Ramiel hits it right at the opportune moment it should disperse it, but not yet,” he clarified, and he knew Ramiel couldn’t respond or he’d give away his location, at this point he was right under the attacking demons, in a hidden trench Tony had designed, so Clint couldn’t actually see him, but he knew where he was. He could also see Natalia slipping in and out of his vision. Bypassing it all to get to where they assumed the leaders of the attack were located. That was good, though, if he couldn’t see her, that meant no one else could either.

“Here they come...” James muttered, now they could see the demons too, and well it was a sight, a slowly creeping blackness that was fraught with pain, coming straight for them. 

“Aaaany time now you could give the signal, Clint,” Tony said, his fingers twitching, ready to unleash all he had on them.

“Not yet,” Clint insisted, “Wait, just wait, it’s almost there…”

They did wait, and it was starting to make them all antsy and twitchy, “Clint…” 

“Just wait,” Clint said firmly, “Wait for it...” 

They could hear them now, spouting nasty, terribly things, their voices like metal grating on metal, making their skin crawl, they were so close.

“Clint,” Steve gritted, they could feel the heat and anger, the terrible feelings they gave off.

Clint was silent still, watching his eyes taking it all in, focusing so intently, waiting to call it, until the exact right moment, “...NOW!”  

With that, there was an explosion, Ramiel burst from his hiding place, Clint watched the wave stall for a second before they attempted to attack him with screams of attack and then lightning crashed down on the wave, hard relentless and powerful. The wave split and screamed and shrieked in pain disintegrating some of the demons away and back to hell.

“Yes!” Clint cheered, “Alright Tony now!” 

“About damn time…” he muttered and then his hands were spread and he was shooting out his specialized ‘anti-demon rays’ at the attacking horde, there were more screams of pain and terror, and then Tony was tapping away at some of the controls on his suit opening traps under the demons sucking them in and then disintegrating them in light.

James and Steve took the demons that had actually gotten close to them, taking them out with practised ease, honestly the whole thing really was going very smoothly.

Naturally that meant things were about to get worse.

The demons dispersed then, however, as they found out it was just the first wave, full of the smaller ones, the bigger more powerful ones came next.

“...well shit,” Clint muttered, “Keep on your toes, we’ve got more in coming.”

While the small ones were like little inky black animals, the next had more humanoid shapes, claws, teeth, and a few had pitch black bat like wings, they were a bit more difficult to take down, but James was a good shot, and Steve had a way of taking out about five with one swing of his shield. Tony was still setting off traps in between blasting them in the face, Ramiel still unleashing the sky upon them. He could only keep it up for so long however, he would need to rest soon and then he could start smashing them with his hammer.

“You can say that again,” James replied, the sound of rapid fire behind his words.

“Shit,” Clint said, “Steve you wann- okay you’re good, there’s another wave coming and…  _ shit _ ...it’s they’re in humans guys…”

“Fantastic, good thing I prepared for that,” Tony said, “All the bullets won’t hurt the humans and neither will your arrows, though you know the hammer will hurt them...it’s a hammer.”

“Indeed, I shall be careful not to hit them,” Ramiel said, “However, I am pleased by the serendipity of being given a hammer to fight with.”

“Oh?” 

“Aye, in my time as a human, my name was Thor, like the god of thunder,” he said chuckling, “And now I fight like he would in mythology.”

“That’s hilarious,” Tony said with a laugh, “I’m a genius.”

“You can brag about that all you want if those traps end up working, to save the humans too,” Steve told him, grunting as he body slammed a rather nasty looking demon with spikes.

“They will,” Tony said, “And if they don’t work for our counterparts also, they will at least work for some of the bigger demons.”

“Good to know,” James growled, “Any sign of them Clint?”

“Not yet...but I’m sure they’re nearby,” he said, frowning in frustration, he was sure he’d have see them by now.

“Keep an eye out, and tell us the second they’re spotted, keep it up everyone,” Steve said, another thump coming through the comms.

“On it,” Clint reassured, still looking around, they were so outnumbered but so far so good...   
“You know, I don’t think anyone mentioned for how long we have to keep this up,” Tony grumbled, “Aren’t there usually time limits on this stuff?”

“In movies, there are, yes,” James replied, grunting, “But seeing as we are real life mythologies come to life, we do not have only two hours to carry out a plot!” He said that with a growl as he shanked a demon in the face with a knife.

“Someone doesn’t like good movies,” Tony said.

“Cut the chatter,” Steve snapped, “We are in the middle of saving the world, we do not have time for jokes!”

“I think it’s the perfect time for jokes, speaking of which: your butt looks good from up here,” Clint said calmly, which caused James and Tony to burst into laughter.

Steve sighed, there was no winning, “Just no one get stabbed,” he said.

“Aye aye, captain,” they all chirped.

Clint grinned to himself eyes scanning around constantly every second taking in everything, every bit of information he was seeing, “There’s a large cluster of them, doing something I don’t know, twenty meters from your position James.”

“I’ll take care of it,” he said and Clint watched him launch himself in the air and then head over to the cluster and indeed take care of it, he was a whirlwind of death, he took them all out with any easy combination of shots and slashes.

“Steve there’s one on your left, and Tony there’s- right in front of you!” he let out a breath when Tony managed to take out the demons who had possibly been trying for a sneak attack.

Clint kept calling things out for them and after what must have been hours they finally felt like the demons were thinning, some were even running.

“Is that it? Did we win?” Tony asked, panting, “I didn’t even break a sweat.”

“No, they’re regrouping, trying for another tactic, now would be a good time for recharge, and get more ammo if needed, I don’t think they’ll be doing anything quite yet...”

“Noted, keep an eye out while we do that, Bruce anything with you?”

“No, all quiet in here,” the other angel replied from inside the house, Steve nodded.

“Good, and no news from Natalia, that’s good news, right?”

“So far,” Clint said, “I lost sight of her a few hours back, hopefully she’ll be back with news shortly,” he said, he wasn’t worried. Not yet.

“She’s got it, no one is as good at what she does as she is,” James said, he was over getting more for his guns, the soft glow of the light in them making him just a bit easier for Clint to see his face, he was so gorgeous. 

He flushed, now was not the time!

“Right, do you need any help resetting traps, Tony?”

“Naaaw, it’s all automatic, and they move,” he replied, a grin in his voice, “Next wave isn’t going to know what hit them.”

“Good,” Steve let out a sigh, “I don’t think we’re even close to being done yet.”

“Agreed, it felt like a warm up.”

“You two are no fun,” Tony sighed, “That should be the end.”

“Maybe we just trained really really well,” Clint offered, trying to be optimistic, but realistically, he knew that was not the case.

“Aren’t you cuuuute?” James teased, Clint huffed and would have shot him in the ass with an arrow if it wouldn’t give away his position.

“Shut up,” he replied, James snickered.

“Hey no flirting on the comms, that is not what they’re for,” Tony said.

“Jealous, Stark?” James asked, almost purring.

“Fuck off, Barnes,” Tony grumbled, making both Clint and James laugh.

“Alright you three,” Steve said with a sigh, “Anything else Clint?”

“Not yet, they’re just...sitting there, like they’re waiting for something…” Clint replied his eyes on the inky black which for a regular human would have been impossible to see, and even for the other angels, but he could see them all, roiling around, waiting, restless.

“Alright, well everyone just take a short break, Ramiel, how are you?”

“I fare well, my friend, shall I come meet with you or stay where I am?” 

“Clint?” Steve asked and Clint pressed his lips together.

“I don’t see any growing wave again, so the lightning won’t be as effective,” he replied, shrugging to himself, “But he does swing pretty wide with that thing.”

“It brings the most pain,” Ramiel said seriously, making the others snort, but Clint knew the other angel was smiling.

“Maybe come closer, but keep your distance,” Steve replied, sounding like he was trying not to laugh.

“Noted,” Ramiel said pleasantly. They continued resting and getting things ready for the next wave when Clint spotted something.

“Natalia,” he said and noted the others looking where they assumed she’d be coming from, she flew in, fast and silent then landed gently right in front of Steve.

“They intend to tire us out, they will keep the battle going on and on until they believe they have the advantage, and then they will carry out their plans, the counterparts are waiting for the opportune moment to take us out-”

“And I think the counterpart you is trying to sneak into the house as we speak,” Clint said, noting the black figure, nearly impossible to see, heading in, he hated that he just now spotted her.

“Ah, likely trying to see what measures we have in place to protect it,” Natalia replied.

“Bruce?” Steve said.

“I’ve got it,” the other angel replied with a soft sigh, they waited a moment, and then there was a roar a blast of white bright light and the black figure was spinning towards the ocean, they weren’t down for the count, however after a second they caught themselves and then were shooting off and away.

“Should we go after them?” 

“I want to say yes, but at the same time...maybe we can use it to our advantage,” Clint said, “I mean they’re not really trying to hide where they’re going now, and we know they are capable of certain things…”

“Good points,” Steve agreed, “Bruce how are you?”

“I’m fine thank you, would anyone like some tea?” he asked making Clint smile.

“We’re good,” he replied, “You just keep doing you.”

“Mmmhmmm,” Bruce replied, seeming to forcefully trying to keep his calm.

“Alright so now what?” 

“Well…” Tony coughed, “I do have a few more tricks up my sleeves, aside from the traps,” he said, quite pleased with himself.

“Alright, bring them out,” Steve said, he crossed his arms, his armor clinking, “Do you have anything that will draw them out? That way they come out before we’re tired?” 

“...I might, but you have to give me some time, it’s not finished yet,” Tony said, Steve nodded.

“Do it, we can handle things here if Ramiel is closer to us and now that Natalia is back,” he said and Tony nodded then returned back to his house.

“Better get it done fast Tony, here they come again,” Clint said, “They’re coming in the formation of spears, spread out a bit and you’ll block them,” he instructed, focused on the ones coming now, too focused that he almost missed the figure that tried to jump him from behind.

But at the last second he was able to move, dropping down and then pulling his bow off his shoulder while simultaneously pulling out an arrow, he fired and it clipped the figure’s wing.

They flew off again, and Clint was very tempted to shoot them in the back, but he didn’t, it wasn’t right.

But of course now he was exposed and any demons that could fly were now screeching and flying his way.

“Clint! What happened?” Steve barked, “You were supposed to stay concealed.”

“Oh, next time I’m about to get shanked in the back I’ll just stay unexposed,” he drawled, flying away from where he’d been and over to another area before he started shooting demons out of the sky.

“What?” Steve asked, shocked.

“Do you honestly think I would have left my little cloud castle for any other reason?” Clint asked, because really, he knew where he was most useful he wouldn’t jeopardize that on purpose.

“No, you’re right, I’m sorry, what happened?” Steve sighed, shaking his head, he was tense, and understandably so.

“Dunno, was looking at you guys then the next second I had someone behind me, I dropped and then shot at them,” he said, it was somewhat ridiculously easy to take out the demons flying at him, his light arrows pierced right through them.

“They knew you were helping us,” Steve said with a sigh, taking out more demons on the ground himself, “Of course, they wanted to take you out, give us less of an advantage, how are you up there?”

“I’m fine, just gonna take a bit more effort to call things out now,” Clint replied, because honestly, this was just lame, “How’s the mega weapon of ultimate doom coming, Tony?”

“Yeah, you’re not allowed to name things,” Tony replied, “I need more time...maybe forty five minutes? Give or take, I found a few flaws, gotta work out the kinks.”

“Right, well do the best you can to hurry,” Steve told him, “With Clint exposed we’re at less of an advantage.”

“Thanks, Steve, I appreciate the vote of confidence,” Clint drawled as he let loose one of the fancy arrows, it exploded and let out what looked much like a whole bunch of rays of sunshine it took out at least a dozen of the little buggers, “Ooohoohoo, neat.”

“Hey, where can I get one of those?” James asked, “You’re making me want things, Barton.”

“Ewwwww,” Tony added, “Keep the bedroom talk in the bedroom, boys.”

“Oh shut up, Tony,” Clint and James said together, making the others snort.

“Focus,” Steve instructed.

“We are focused,” Clint shot another arrow and cackled in delight, “But really if this battle is going to last as long as it takes us to take out every single demon, then we can’t be serious the whole time.”

“It’ll be wearing, yeah, just take a breather Steve, we’re doing good, you did good, training and all that, this is what it was all for, we’ve got this,” James reassured.

“Alright, but still everyone be alert,” Steve insisted.

“Yes sir, also there’s a big one behind you,” Clint said, noting Steve spinning around to kick the thing in the face, “Nice.”

“Thanks,” Steve drawled.

“Aaah, now you’re getting it,” James laughed, “I think-ack!” 

Clint’s eyes snapped to James, something had happened, but he saw him, knife in the neck of a demon, then he staggered.

“James?” Clint asked, worried, still firing off arrows.

“I’m fine, asshole caught me by surprise, I hate for you to say I told you so, Steve….but you’re right, I’ll be fine, let’s just get this over with.” 

“Are you sure?” Steve asked, “You can take a minute to get your breath back.”

“Naw naw, I’m fine, it just got armor, caught me by surprise,” James reassured, Clint watched him close for a moment, just to make sure, but he carried on.

As did the rest of them, at this point it was becoming monotonous, and the banter was really the only thing keeping their spirits up. Endless killing was not really what they were meant for, not even for those angels that specialized in it.

The demons however were relentless, they kept coming, they lived for mayhem, for the chance to bring about pain and death, they didn’t stop, even when faced with their own deaths.

“Tony aren’t you done yet?” James demanded, more than an hour later, he was getting frustrated.

“As a matter of fact...no, well almost, it took longer than I thought, but I found a way that might get a lot more than we thought, I can magnify my Light tenfold and then we can really get to work, just give me a bit longer,” Tony promised, “I’m very close.”

“Just hurry,” James growled, Clint noted he seemed to be getting tired, and that didn’t seem right, he opened his mouth to ask when he was assaulted by about two dozen flying batlike demons he had to shoot down with extreme prejudice. 

Just then there were two cries, one of elation and another of pain.

“Got it!” Tony cheered.

“AAAAHG!” James screamed in pain, Clint’s head snapped to look at him and watched as he fell to the ground, crashing hard as he’d been up in the air. There was a darker figure where he had been, black wings flapping hard and a long jagged sword, dripping with blood, and then flying away. Steve was after him in a second.

Clint had tunnel vision.

“JAMES!”

Clint could see nothing but James on the ground, hurt, he started shooting in a rage, taking out every demon he saw in between him and then shot to the ground to him he shot every demon that came near them, finally using an exploding one to clear the area for a moment before he was crouch down at his side.

“James, James, please no,” he cupped his head and lifted him up gently, thankfully he groaned, then blinked up at him.

“Hey, sexy,” he croaked, Clint let out a watery laugh, and brushed his face with his fingers.

“Dumbass, you got stabbed,” he said, “I need to get you inside…”

“No, I’m fine, don’t leave the others, they need you more than they need me, I’ll get in by myself,” he insisted, Clint shook his head stubbornly.

“No, I am not leaving you alone until I know you’re safe,” he snapped and James laughed softly then grimaced.

“I’ll be fine, you know how fast we heal, I just need to rest for a bit, honest, I’ll be fine,” he promised, “I- No!” Clint spun around an arrow in hand, stabbing a demon in the face.

“Dammit! Tony!” Clint snarled, “You said it was ready!” 

“It is! It’s not exactly easy to carry!” Tony replied and Clint let out a frustrated huff of air, then grabbed his bow, slung it over his shoulder and then grabbed James.

Fully intending to bring him into the house whether he liked it or not.

“Clint…”

“Nope,” Clint said stubbornly, “Can you fly?”

“Yeah,” James sighed, “A little,” he agreed, and Clint helped him into the air away from the lesser demons hissing on the ground.

Clint took flew with him back to the house and handed him over to Bruce, “Don’t let him leave, tie him down if you have to, not until he’s no longer bleeding at least.”

Bruce looked faintly amused, “I’ll do my best,” he agreed, taking James who was definitely not pouting, over to the couch.

“I’ll be back later to check on you,” Clint promised, turning to go.

“Be safe,” James told him and Clint smiled.

“Always,” he replied and then jumped off the balcony and flew back to the battle.

“You two are ridiculous,” Bruce said, and James only snorted a laugh while Bruce started inspecting his wound which was a lot worse than Clint knew.

“I know…” James muttered, “But at least it’s good.”

 

Clint was back out in the middle of things, actually having spotted some demons trying to take them from the other side and was more than happy to stand on the roof and take them all out from all directions.

“You know Tony, now would be a good idea to unleash your weapon,” Clint said in frustration, his mind still on James.

“Calm down, it’s coming,” Tony replied, “It’s going to create a huge dome of Light and then blast outward, it should take out most of the lesser demons. It’s charging now…”

Clint snarled softly under his breath, while still shooting down more demons trying to take them from behind, there had been traps there previously but they’d all been sprung.

Clint wanted to snap at Tony for that too, but he didn’t he knew he was just stressed out because of James, “Steve did you get the one who stabbed James?”

“I’m afraid not,” Steve said regretfully, “But we’ll bring them all to us soon, don’t worry, we’ll end it soon.”

Clint took in a deep breath and let loose an arrow that exploded in the middle of a good dozen demons sending them screaming, it was almost good stress relief. 

He took another deep breath to center himself. He knew he couldn’t get caught up in the fact James was hurt, he needed to focus on the task at hand, but his heart was thumping so loud in his chest it felt like it might just burst.

“Tony, can you tell me how to reset the traps around the house?” he asked, it would give him something to do at the very least.

“What? They should reset and move automatically,” he said, “Aren’t they?” 

“No, they aren’t doing anything anymore,” Clint replied frowning.

“Shit, someone had to have disabled them, no doubt the bad version of me, okay, just give me a minute here,” Clint shot a few more demons away from the house, “Alright, let’s spark these babies at the same time, could someone watch- oh thanks Natalia, just press this button when I say go, alright?”

“Mmm, it had better work, Stark,” Natalia said smoothly, Tony scoffed.

“It’ll work, alright I’ll be right there Clint,” a minute late he was flying next to Clint looking at one of the displays on his suit, “Dammit...they disabled them manually,” he grumbled, “How did they get so close to do that if you were watching it?”

Clint scowled, “I can’t watch everything at the same time, I bet you it was right when I was attacked, or when I was helping James,” he replied and Tony only huffed.

“Whatever, let’s just fix them activate the ray and then we can ask them ourselves,” he said flying down to them clearing the bath with his mini rays in his suits hands.

“You don’t need to convince me,” Clint replied also shooting them away, “How is everyone else?”

“We’re doing fine on this front, for now...Ramiel and Natalia have it well in hand and I’m holding my own.”

“I’ll be back out to help in a bit,” James promised.

“James…” Clint growled.

“Cliiiint,” James replied mockingly, “Really, it’s only a small wound, it’ll be healed by the end of the battle. Just give me a little bit of time.”

“Don’t push yourself,” Steve insisted, “How are the other traps coming?”

“Aaahg, they really messed with them, but I think I can fix- oh I can just bypass the reset mechanism and do it manually, no worries and-” there was a loud rumble, “There we are, are you ready Natalia?”

“Yes,” she replied quickly.

“Alright on my mark, three, two...one,” there was a click, a short pause and the feeling of electricity and ozone in the air and then a blast of light encompassed the whole house and expanded, it obliterated any demon nearby and it sent the rest of them running.

“HA!” Tony laughed, “Take THAT!” 

The light expanded more and more and more, surrounding the house and much of the field, taking out some of the running demons until slowly it dispersed. 

“That...was really cool,” Clint said, nodding, he looked around, noting they were demon free for the moment, Tony quickly reset the traps around the house and then followed after Clint who went to go meet with Steve and the others.

“So, now what? Do we go after them?” Tony asked, “That blast can happen again by the way, it just needs to rest in between.”

“That’s good, we might need it, for now we should just rest, I’m sure they’ll be thinking of a new plan and-”

“Aaaah, no,” Clint said his eyes on the black sky, “They don’t seem to be the patient type anymore...they’re coming.”

“They?” Ramiel repeated.

“They,” Clint nodded voice grave, “Seven winged beings, coming straight for us.”

“Fantastic.” Tony sighed.

“This was the plan, wasn’t it?”

“Well yeah, but it wasn’t supposed to work this well, I was thinking one at a time, now we get the epic battle of a lifetime…” he sighed dramatically.

“Well, that too was the whole point,” Steve said shaking his head, “How far out are they, Clint?”

“Maybe ten minutes,” he replied.

“I’m coming to help,” James said and Clint scowled and glared towards the house.

“Don’t you dare,” he said, “You and Bruce need to stay in the house to guard the gate, there’s another mass of demons on the other side of the house, likely lying in wait to take it.”

“We can handle the others,” Steve reassured, “You two cover the Gate, we need to do everything possible to prevent it from being taken.”

“Alright…” James agreed, but he didn’t sound too pleased about it.

Clint stood next to the others in a long line, definitely like one of those epic movies they watched in their downtime, “We better all make it out of this,” he grumbled.

“We’ll do our best, now get ready, here they come,” Steve replied, seconds later, seven figures landed about twenty yards from them.

They all had dark wings, not completely black like at first glance, instead it was like they had all been wrapped in oil but interrupted before it was finished, it was all over, a blackness stretched out, it looked painful, and from the way none of them could remain still, it likely was. 

They all had weapons and armor as well, jagged metals, nothing like the classy beautiful pieces their original counterparts had. 

Clint looked at them closely, each one shared similar attributes with them, but he could tell that originally they had all been their own persons. Their new blood and powers seemed to be too much for them to handle. And it hurt them, sending them into madness.

“Now what?” Tony asked softly.

“Now...we protect the Gate,” Steve said lifting his shield up and gripping onto it more firmly, Clint tightened his own grip on his bow, he noted his counterpart had swords, well, alright that was going to be fun. 

“Let’s do this,” Steve said grimly, and then they all rose into the air and they clashed, Clint kept his distance while his own counterpart was somewhat of a maniac, cutting arrows in half and doing his best to try and cut off Clint’s head.

Somehow, that convinced Clint into knowing he was the one who had stabbed James, he reaffirmed his focus and did his best to fight as well as cover the other’s backs, since it was five to seven, it made things a bit more difficult.

Clint would sporadically shoot at the other dark figures in between dodging and trying to take out his own doppelganger, it was much harder than fighting pitiful low level demons.

He was starting to tire when he heard Steve cry out, his eyes snapped to him and saw him falling over the side of the cliff, “Steve!” he yelled, but then Natalia was diving after him, and Clint suddenly had three people coming after him, “Shit!”

He flew straight up, as fast as he could and then mid flight flipped over so he was upside down and then fired as many arrows at his pursuers as he could, while doing so he saw Natalia and Steve were both fine, but Ramiel had been backed into a corner by two others while Tony was furiously keeping his counterpart from getting close to his giant light ray machine thing (they should have come up with names for these things, honestly), that left the one who had tossed Steve off the cliff to head for the house.

“Incoming!” he managed to get out before Natalia’s counterpart flew past him fast enough he rocked out of control for a moment.

“Bruce!” James barked and there was another burst of light and the other figure sped out of there, “Little shits…”

“You guys okay?” Steve asked a bit out of breath.

“Yeah we’re fine,” James replied, sounding grumpy.

“I could use a hand!” Clint shouted, because now he was really having a hard time, three against one, and they all had sharp things, one of which caught his wing “Ah!” 

“Clint!” James cried, “What happened?!”

“I’m fine! Just got my wing clipped, I’m fine, but I have three on my ass!” 

“I’m coming to help!”

“No I’m fi-AHG!”

James didn’t wait, he shot out of the house, knowing Bruce had things well in hand, he was outside ignoring the pain in his side and he pulled out his guns and started shooting anyone that was unfamiliar.

It helped to give the others a breather, Clint landed several feet away, panting, and one wing at a bit of an angle, holding it in pain. James shot at anything that didn’t have white wings so furiously they retreated somewhat. But that just had Ramiel, Steve, Natalia and Tony chasing after them.

“Clint, are you okay?” he asked the second he got the chance.

“Yeah...yeah, just got clipped, I’m okay,” he muttered, but James was at his side anyway, hand on his arm.

“If you’re sure,” he muttered and Clint nodded, then turned a bit to watch his wing as he stretched it out he cringed as it straightened, but it seemed to pop a few ruffled feathers back into place, and felt better.

“I’m sure,” he promised then kissed his cheek, “Now get your ass back inside.”

“So bossy,” James huffed, “You guys could use my help.”

“I hate to say it, but we do,” Steve said, “Just don’t push yourself, and I swear to all that is, you two get your heads on straight your recklessness towards each other is insane.”

Clint and James both flushed.

“Sorry,” Clint muttered.

“We’ll try to be less so…” James said with a grimace, Clint offered him a smile and James nodded at him then they both jumped into the fray, it made the fight a lot more even, but it also meant that it gave the Bruce equivalent the chance to slip away and go after the real Bruce.

He was distracted enough to be taken from the house, and that allowed the mass of demons to start towards the gate.

“Shit!” Clint hissed, “Bruce is no longer in the house! The Gate is exposed!”

“Cover the Gate!” Steve insisted and Clint twisted his arrow at the last second to hit the one fighting James, he took that chance to fly away and head to guard the gate from the demons. Clint twisted around to bean his counterpart in the face with his bow. 

He screeched in pain and Clint snorted.

“You’re telling me,” Clint replied and then kicked him as hard as he could away.

Then he twisted around and fired arrows off at all of the other dopplegangers giving his own team a chance to push them back.

And while it looked for one fleeting moment that they were going to push them back, it was just for that moment, as a second later Bruce cried out over the comms in pain, and the demons pushed forward beyond the traps and into the house.

“No!” Steve cried using more force to push back his counterpart, trying to make it to the Gate, but the dopplegangers were pushing back just as hard, Clint started firing with more gusto than before, doing all he could to give the others or himself the chance to go after them, and finally, he saw James break away and follow after.

But Clint’s own doppleganger saw what was happening, and he pulled back his arm, and then let one of his blades fly, it pierced messily through James’ armor, right through the chest, and he dropped.

“No!” Clint gasped and he just saw him collapsed on the ground and something broke, “NO! JAMES!” 

He saw him there, not moving arm stretched away, gun in hand aimed decisively, blood slowly seaping from the wound into the ground. Eyes open and starting to glaze over.

Clint lost it.

But not in the hurt beyond control type anger. More in the cold, anguished hard rage type, he was not going to let James die and let them fail. He would not allow it.

He felt his doppleganger moving, likely trying to use his devastation against him, but no, now Clint wasn’t just grieving, he was incensed beyond enraged, he caught the blade in his bare hand, he could feel it slice his hand, but he didn’t care. He twisted it and yanked it out of the others’ hand. He screeched in shock and then Clint was swinging the blade up, grabbing the hilt and then slicing it through the air at his double.

He dropped to the ground like a rock.

Clint flew up still holding the blade he pulled an arrow and shot at the nearest doppleganger, hitting them in the shoulder.

Then the noticed their fallen comrade and shrieked, that caught the attention of the others they all shrieked in anger as well and started for Clint, that was exactly what he wanted.

He flew up high, higher and higher until they were all under him, and then he turned upside down again, threw the blade at one of them and this time the arrow he released was made of pure heavenly light, it flew, flying past them all and pierced straight through the machine Tony had made, they screeched again, as if in triumph but not a second later, it exploded, this time more powerful than before, releasing every ounce of power it held, extending as far as it possibly could in a dome and beyond.

It took over the house, and the demons and up and hit the doubles, they screamed, and then it hit Clint.

He fell, and all he saw was white.

  
  
  


“...he knew what he was doing?”

“We won’t ever really know, what we do know is: it worked.”

“And my house is still standing, that’s nice.”

“Tony.”

“What? How I deal with grief is not dealing with it.”

“Clearly. How are you doing Bruce?”

“I...could be better...I’m sorry I wasn’t much more help.”

“Don’t. You kept them at bay for as long as you could without unleashing death on everything in the world, and it was long enough. What matters is that we did what we came here for. The Gate is safe.”

“Ha, that’s because it’s gone. Clint destroyed it with his dramatics, giant explosion of heavenly energy made it go poof, no Gate here.”

“Yeah, well, we were never given explicit instructions that it wasn’t an option.”

“What matters, friends, is that we have come out victorious.” 

“Yes, but at what cost?”

Clint opened his eyes then, the ceiling of the living room the first thing he saw, the others speaking softly in the other room, it was dark in here and there was a stream of light coming from where they were. 

He was pretty sure he wasn’t dead. It felt like he was. He felt like he should be.

He took a deep breath and let it out slowly then he turned his head and saw he was laying on the dias next to  _ him _ .

James. His eyes were closed, eyelashes spread out over his cheekbones, hair all over the place, armor scuffed and dented and slightly splattered with blood, his lips were soft and slightly parted.

He was just as gorgeous as they day Clint had first seen him.

Except this time, he was dead.

Clint was no idiot, there had likely been no time for any of the others to get to him in time, and he’d been bleeding out so fast, and he had no idea how long it had been after he cleared the Gate, so it was simply what had happened...casualties of war.

He took in a shaky breath this time, he couldn’t look away, he didn’t want this to be how it ended, he’d wanted their end.

The one they had talked about.

He could close his eyes and see them there, at a coffee shop in the city, just talking about whatever, enjoying each others company, and just being together.

But that wasn’t possible now.

Slowly he got up and realized that he hurt everywhere. His wings were a bit floppy too, he was shaking and slightly cold. That was...wow, he hadn’t felt any of those things since before Ascension, if then.

He groaned softly, and put his face in his hands.

The world was saved, yipee...at least James hadn’t died in vain, really it was all thanks to him that it was still around.

It just seemed so unfair that he had to die. He withheld a sob, but it still echoed slightly.

“What was that?” 

“It came from-”

There were quick footsteps and then they stuttered to a halt.

“Clint!”

He took a deep breath and then moved his hands, he was probably a sight, battered and broken in front of his dead love. 

“Yep...it’s me...hurrah…” he muttered staring down at the floor feeling empty, he didn’t get to dwell long, however, as the next moment Natalia was hugging him, so tight it hurt. But it still felt good.

“You were our hero,  дорогая ,” she said softly, “We thought you were dead.”

“Oh...well...that explains...okay...why?”

“You weren’t breathing and you had no pulse,” Bruce said, “Pretty classic signs.”

“...fair enough…” he let out a sigh, “So we won though...that’s...good.”

“Yeah we did? How did you know that was going to work?”

“I didn’t...James did,” he said softly.

“What?” Steve asked, but they all looked confused.

“When...he fell...he...his gun it was pointed at it, I’m sure he was going to shoot it...but he couldn’t...so I did it for him.”

“Why would he want to shoot it?” 

“You do remember he’s the angel of destruction right? Not everything that is destroyed ends up bad…”

“How would he have known that would happen?” Tony asked crossing his arms, he was no longer in his suit, none of them were in their armor either, it was just Clint and James. He vaguely wondered if Natalia had hurt herself hugging him but it was a fleeting thought.

“I don’t know, I just took the cues and did it, okay? I was pissed,” he replied, his eyebrows furrowed in frustration.

“You’re right, sorry…” Tony actually did look contrite, likely because Clint’s voice was already sounding wet.

“Clint…” Steve said softly.

“No...it’s fine...or it’s not, I just- I just need time…to process it...” he whispered, he didn’t even want to look at James right then for fear of bursting into tears.

“Of course, but do remember, you are not alone,” Ramiel said softly.

Clint nodded, he knew, and he was grateful, but he still felt alone, he offered the other angel a weak smile.   
“Thanks, I know,” he said softly.

“Good,” Steve said, “Now come on let’s get you into some clean clothes, and eating something,” he insisted, and Clint opened his mouth to protest, but he could see from the looks on the other’s faces no protests that came from him would be acknowledged.

“...alright,” he agreed and let Natalia led him away from the dias, and with every step away he felt his stomach sink. But he kept walking, even though it hurt, there was nothing to be done.

He let the others help him out of the armor gingerly, “Aaah...ow, is this normal?”

“Dunnno, champ, you’re the one that exploded a heavenly light pulsar and then fell about a hundred feet,” Tony said, “So, I’d say yes.”

“Does anything feel broken?” Bruce asked, checking everywhere anyway.

“Well yes, but I doubt you can do anything about it,” Clint said dryly, huh, go figure he dealt with grief with humor.

“What’s that?” Steve asked and Clint only rolled his eyes, “Oh…”

“Don’t worry Steve, I gotta find out...stuff, you lucky people get to be my guinea pigs,” he said dryly.

“Mmm, I don’t know if I’m going to like morbid humor Clint,” Tony said, taking the armor and moving it elsewhere. 

“I don’t know if I like regular Tony,” Clint replied sweetly and Tony gave him a look, Clint only smiled back.

“Yeah yeah yeah…” Tony sighed, “Right, sorry.” Clint hummed in response, but didn’t actually blame Tony, this wasn’t easy for any of them.

“Let’s have some food while we talk, alright?” Steve offered and Clint nodded, following after the rest of them into the kitchen.

“What happened?” Clint asked as he was served some pizza, and holy crap was that delicious, it was like he hadn’t eaten in days.

“Well, it’s been about thirty hours...maybe more, we watched you go up and then shoot the-”

“Pulsar, we’re calling it a pulsar, even though that’s not what it actually is, it’s close enough,” Tony said insistently.

“The Pulsar, it unleashed a pulse of light energy, it took out all of the demons, and then it also took out the doubles, we were overcome with it too, I think most of us were out of it for a bit afterwards, when I came too the doubles were all on the ground, they didn’t have wings or the blackness around them, they looked like normal humans...but they were all dead”

“So...that’s...good?” Clint offered, Steve shrugged.

“As good as it can be, they are free from whatever had a hold over them, so I’d call it better than what they were before,” he replied and Clint nodded that was true.

“Anything else happen?”

“Not really, we all woke up, moved the bodies- sorry we thought you were one...we didn’t want to ah-”

“It’s okay...thank you,” he replied, they hadn’t wanted to separate them and that really spoke to Clint in how much they knew they’d cared for each other, and how much they cared about them too.

Steve rested a hand on his shoulder and squeezed, “We are sorry.”

“I know, and I know you’ll miss him too, I...I guess it was just meant to be,” he muttered, “I’ll deal.”

“Yeah, but you don’t have to alone,” Steve said and Natalia hugged him again.

“Thank you...I guess...first step...is figuring out what to do…” he said softly, looking back towards the dark living room.

“We will, I mean you were out for about a day longer than we were, so...we have maybe two days to figure things out, we...can take it downstairs to keep ah...him cool…” Steve muttered awkwardly.

“His body...yeah, I don’t think he’d appreciate getting smelly,” he said dryly.

“Ah...there’s the morbid sense of humor,” Tony said shaking his head, “I’ll get one of the bots to move him, and then the other bodies...they should get a proper burial….yeah?”

“We could give them a burial by the sea?” Natalia offered, “We don’t know who they are, and we may never…”

“It would be the most honorable,” Ramiel agreed softly.

“That seems like the best option,” Steve nodded, “We’ll start working on it.”

Clint listened as they started to talk about it and other things, he just let his mind blank, he didn’t want to think about anything.

 

And he did exactly that, so for the next day he just followed around anyone who needed help or talked to him first, giving minimal response, and trying to keep up appearances, but none of them pushed him. 

He appreciated the others so much by the third day, he was considering making them some food, he’d learned how in the circus and was halfway to the kitchen when the doorbell rang.

He couldn't really understand why when Tony walked by elbowing him gently, “Being so popular is so trying at times,” he drawled, “I hope it’s not the feds, I’d hate to have to explain the wings.”

“Won’t that be hard to explain to anyone?” Clint asked, flapping his own gently, they were still a bit tender.

“Not to Pepper!” Tony said cheerfully and Clint snorted, watching as Tony went to the door and pressed the intercom, “This is the computerized butler of Tony Stark, all appointments must be made through Pepper Potts-”

“Mr. Stark, I would like to come in please,” a faintly familiar voice said calmly. Tony scowled and opened his mouth to respond, but Clint put his hand on his arm and nodded.

“....fine,” Tony said and opened the door a crack so just his face was visible, “Who are you and waaait, you’re the guy from before.”

“Who?” Clint asked, and then peeked over Tony’s head, his eyes widened, “Tony, let him in.”

“But-”

“Tony,” Clint said firmly, “Let him in.” 

“...you’re so weird, fine,” he said and then opened the door.

The man, going by the name of Phil Coulson walked into the mansion, an unassuming smile on his face. He didn’t blink at their wings, just nodded in thanks. He smiled warmly at Clint who wiggled despite himself, he couldn’t help it.

“Sooo...what did you want?” Tony asked, following after, arms crossed and wings twitching just slightly.

“I would like to speak to everyone, if that’s alright,” Coulson said calmly.

“Alright,” Tony frowned and led the way to the living room, having the others alerted through his fixed AI. 

They only had to wait a moment before the others gathered in the living room, Coulson stood before them and smiled.

“Thank you,” he said firstly and that immediately got them all confused.

“You’re welcome?” Tony drawled, only for him to smile more, but it was warm, and genuine.

“I’m sorry, I wasn’t able to be there for you, like I had planned, but you managed to do exactly what you were meant, and for that I can not share how grateful I am.”

“...what?” Tony arched an eyebrow at him.

“You’re very welcome, but what...do you mean?” Steve asked, looking just as confused as everyone else.

Coulson only smiled more and looked at Clint.

“Guys…” he said, “He’s…” he gestured and everyone still looked confused, “He can have many faces…?” he gestured again, “He’s...you know…”

Coulson laughed, “A valiant attempt, Clint, but perhaps I can explain better...after all I do know you all better than anyone else,” and that seemed to open a few minds and widen a few eyes, “I can take any form and chose the one that I thought would result in me being able to be close to you, to guide you but not influence you, after all, that would counter free will, wouldn’t it? I am pretty big on that.”

“Oh…” Tony said his eyes twice the size they were normally, “Oh...oh yeah, um- I-”

“We are-” Steve started also moving forward to kneel it looked like.

“Don’t, you all have done so far beyond well, I really don’t think things could have gone better, and there is no need to stand on ceremony, this time you all did wonderfully.”

“I don’t know about that, I could list a few things that could have gone better,” Clint said arching an eyebrow and crossing his arms.

“Of course,” he conceded, “But I am here now, to offer you something as reward, I felt it only fair.”

“Ooooh reaaaally?” Tony asked with a grin.

“Clint...what is it that would make you happy?” Coulson said, totally ignoring Tony, which made the angel pout, Coulson’s lips twitched, Tony was fun to tease.

“Really?” Clint asked, “You know what would…”

“Yes, but it would be easier for you to say it.”

“I want James.” He said, “You know that, I want to be with James, I want us both to...to be able to be happy and to...enjoy being with our friends and...you  _ know _ that.”

“I do, I was just making sure. And you deserve it.”

“...okay,” Clint said, now beyond confused, watching as he turned to the others and asked them the same question. 

He wasn’t really listening but he heard that they all more or less wished for the same thing, they wished to remain together, and to be happy. But no details.

Coulson smiled and nodded.

“As you wish, thank you for your cooperation.”

The world suddenly faded and he was gone from it.

  
  


Clint Barton opened his eyes to see an unfamiliar but well known ceiling above him, he blinked and the unfamiliarity faded away. He knew this ceiling, the crack that ran from the light to the door, the walls that were a faded blue, the mess on the floor in front of the dirty laundry basket. The dresser with various personal items on top of it, he knew what it all was and he’d seen it before, and really he’d been meaning to sort through all of it for awhile except-

He shook his head, no, he’d just arrived here, he’d-

He looked behind his back, no wings. 

Had it all been a dream?

But no, it couldn’t be, he felt it, it all felt real, everything in his heart was real and there was no way those feelings were fake, just the result of an overactive imagination.

He took a deep breath and looked around again, the window was open, the curtain blowing gently in the breeze, city sounds floating in gently, he took a deep calming breath, it was all good, really.

He was trying not to panic, it had to be real, everything he’d gone through and all he’d felt towards James.

“James…” he whispered, and then he was slipping out of bed and turned to grab a shirt, but he froze because there, leaning against the doorjamb.

Hair shorter, but still brown, jaw so sharp it could cut diamonds, lips soft and smirking, eyes, those beautiful blue eyes.

James was leaning against the door arms crossed casually, head cocked to the side and smirking softly at him, amused.

“Hey,” he said and Clint blinked.

“H-hey,” he said shakily.

“About time you got here,” he said, and he looked so beautiful, Clint couldn’t help but start crying as he tripped over himself, the bed and the clothes on the floor to get to his arms.

James laughed softly, and held him so tight it felt like coming home, finally.

“You alright?” He asked after a moment and Clint nodded, wiping away the few stray tears, he laughed softly.

“Yes, yes I am so much alright now,” he said wrapping his arms around him and laughing more, “This is more than- yes.”

“Yeah,” he agreed, “Oh...before you think of it too much...I go by Bucky here...for some...weird reason it stuck,” he grinned, “Military guys are a pain.”

Clint blinked and he suddenly remembered they had met in the military and Bucky was teased for his nickname, but it did stick, and it worked, and wow.

“...I like it,” he smiled, “Bucky Barnes, the angel of dumb nicknames.”

Bucky laughed, “What’s that make you,  _ Hawkeye? _ ”

“Oh god,” Clint groaned, and remembered he was a sniper and earned that nickname for his own skills, “...this gonna happen a lot? The...remembering thing?”

“Yeah, but they’re not bad things, everything is good, and you have an advantage, I’ve been here for three days, waiting for you,” he said, cupping Clint’s face, “Took your sweet time, didn’t you? And you were likely wallowing the whole time, huh?”

“Nu-uuuuh,” he replied, but he knew Bucky knew he had been, but he didn’t care, it didn’t matter, now they were here, and they were together.

Bucky chuckled and kissed his forehead, he smiled like a loon. It felt so good to be kissed again!

“So...the others are here too?” Clint asked, “Wherever here is?”

“We’re just...living the lives we should have before our...human selves died,” Bucky replied, “Sort of, I mean, you were nine, I was 18, so we likely would not have met anyway, but, that’s beside the point, we’re here now.”

“You know you talk a lot?” Clint said and laughed when Bucky pinched him in the side, but he put his arm on his shoulders and led him out to the kitchen, “So...we’re getting to live again as a reward for saving the world...alright.” 

“Yeah, not a bad way to end things, huh?” Bucky smiled going to grab the coffee, Clint sat at the table, everything was familiar now, he remembered buying the apartment with Bucky, picking out the paint to hide the hideous wallpaper. It was all just so wonderful.

“No...best way to really start things,” Clint said smiling stupidly, Bucky chuckled softly as he set the cup of coffee in front of the blond, he leaned forward over the table.

“You’re so corny,” he said, “But I love that,” he said pressing his lips to Clint’s and Clint inhaled his scent and more memories, the first time they kissed in the heat of the middle east, secretly, really they should have waited, but they couldn’t not after so narrowly avoiding a roadside bomb.

“I love you,” Clint replied, remembering the first time they’d said that to each other too, and wow, he was so bursting with love and happiness and really, this was the best thing he’d ever woken up too.

He could faintly remember the other times he’d woken up and things had gotten worse, and worse, but this time, it was all perfect.

“Wait...so what about the others?” he asked, he’d gotten distracted, Bucky smiled and sat across from him, hooking their ankles together and then took a sip of coffee.

“Well, Steve was in the military with us, Thor was a political prisoner we helped rescue, we also rescued Tony, I am really looking forward to seeing his reaction to that,” Clint snickered into his coffee, “Natasha did turncoat and became a spy for our side,” he said and Clint nodded all of these made sense somehow, “And Bruce is a teacher at the school we attend now, oddly enough.”

“Wow,” Clint replied, “So...we’re all still close?”

“Yep,” Bucky smiled, “How’s that for a second chance at life?”

“It’s amazing,” Clint beamed, “I’m just so happy to be with you, and the others and- is it weird we remember everything else?”

“Naaaawww, it gives us our real roots, and our real emotions, if we didn’t remember, we wouldn’t really understand why we’re close, or why we love each other, which is pretty important if you ask me,” Bucky replied and Clint smiled, he reached out to take Bucky’s hand.

“You’re right, I wouldn’t want to forget it, even if some parts are awful, I’d lose the best parts with you,” he said and Bucky squeezed his hand.

“Wise words,” he drawled, “Though...I am glad of one thing...your eyes…”

Clint blinked, “What about them?”

“They’re still the most beautiful ones I’ve ever seen.”

“Oooh, and you call  _ me _ corny,” Clint teased.

“Better than yours,” Bucky remarked.

“Yeah, but...I’m just glad you’re here to hear it,” he smiled when Bucky leaned across the table to kiss him gently on the lips.

“And I’ll be here for as long as you want me,” he promised.

“Good, because I’m never letting you out of might sight ever again,” Clint promised back.

 

THE END


End file.
